Estate of New Bedford’s Jacob Pothier asking court to order deposition of Kathleen Martins

The estate of Jacob Pothier, the Greater New Bedford Vocational Technical High School (Voc-Tech) student who was killed in a car crash this past January, has filed a petition with Bristol County Superior Court to order the deposition of Kathleen Martins, the former Voc-Tech employee who was in the car with Pothier when it crashed. Martins, 37, was allegedly in a relationship with the student.

Martins, of Dartmouth, worked for GNBVT as a security officer until she resigned in March of 2023. Pothier, who was just 18 at the time of his death, was a student at the school and according to Pothier’s family, had been in a sexual relationship with Martins since he was 15.

In June of this year, Pothier’s estate served GNBVT a presentment letter with a deadline for a response, indicating their intention to pursue civil action against the school for what they believe was negligence and a failure to protect Pothier while he was a student.

Court documents filed last week state that on February 29, 2024, Martins was placed under a Conservatorship and Guardianship due to a loss of capacity. According to initial reports, Martins suffered a brain injury as a result of the accident.

On September 9th, however, Martins was removed from the Conservatorship and Guardianship due to regaining her capacity and having signed a health care proxy form.

Then, on September 25th, Jennifer Cullen, the personal representative of the Estate of Pothier, filed a petition with Bristol County Superior Court asking for the court to allow for Martins to be deposed in the civil matter. Former New Bedford Mayor, Attorney Scott W. Lang is representing the estate.

Those documents state that the estate intends to move forward with legal action to hold not only Martins, but Voc-Tech, Superintendent Michael Watson and Human Resources Director of Voc-Tech Nancy Markey responsible for the death of Pothier, as well as negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress “due to their failure to investigate and handling of an inappropriate sexual relationship between student Jacob P. Pothier and Voc-Tech’s former employee, Martins.”

Because of the anticipated actions, the estate is asking the court to order a deposition of Martins. You can read the complete filing below:

In August, Fall River Reporter published an article on family concerns over the location of Pothier’s phone, which family members said was pinging at the garage where the vehicle was towed after the accident. Those family members said they were told by police that the phone had been recovered and would be returned to them after it was analyzed. The family never got the phone back and a representative for the Bristol County District Attorney’s office stated that the phone was destroyed in the crash.

The investigation into the death is still open and active.

A hearing on the matter regarding the deposition is scheduled for October 29th.