Woman Connected with Half-Sisters After DNA Test. Then She Sued for Part of Dad’s Multi-Million Wrongful Death Award

A Massachusetts woman connected with her likely half-sisters after she used a DNA test kit to find information about her absent dad. However, about a year after first spending time with them, she filed a lawsuit against the sisters and their mom to claim what she believed was her share of their dad’s $28 million wrongful death award.

The saga began in February 2023, when Carmen Thomas, a 28-year-old from Lexington, Mass., used 23andMe to learn more about her father, whom she’d been told was named Joe Brown, according to the complaint reviewed by PEOPLE.

After years of unsuccessful attempts at finding him, Thomas sent in a DNA sample. The following month, she was able to meet her two likely half-sisters, Kali and Abigail Brown, though she found out that their dad had died five years earlier.

The trio met for the first time on March 18 and had a “wonderful day together,” according to the complaint.

Following that initial rendezvous, the women continued to communicate and Thomas even met Abigail and Kali’s mom, Kristin Eckhardt. 

“She was welcomed into the family unconditionally,” Thomas’ lawyers wrote in the complaint, noting that “at no time did Kali, Abby, Kristin, or Kathleen question Carmen’s paternity and she was welcomed into the family unconditionally.”

However, on April 7, 2023, Kali sent Thomas a text asking for some space, explaining that she and her sister were “missing our father a lot, and it’s not really been easy,” according to the complaint.

According to the complaint, that was the last time Thomas heard from either sister.

In January 2024, wanting to mark the death anniversary of the man she believed to be her father, Thomas searched the internet for more information, which is when she allegedly learned about the wrongful death suit, according to the complaint.

In January 2018, Joe died of an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm at a medical center in Salem, Mass., which resulted in the multimillion-dollar medical-malpractice award, according to The Wall Street Journal and the ABA Journal. As Thomas’ complaint noted, Kali’s message about needing space was sent shortly after the jury was selected.

With interest, the award came up to $28 million, according to Thomas’ complaint. However, as noted by the ABA Journal and Law360, the case was later settled for an undisclosed amount.

By February 2024, Thomas filed her suit against the Brown sisters and Eckhardt. In the complaint, she claimed that she deserved a share of the award because she was also Joe Brown’s daughter.

The move shocked the Browns, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“The death of their father was extraordinarily traumatic, as you can imagine,” Joseph Lipchitz, a lawyer representing Eckhardt and her daughters, told the newspaper. “That was compounded by this putative heir all of a sudden showing up and demanding money.”

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The lawyer went on to tell the newspaper that the suit had been settled and “was resolved favorably” for Kali, Abigail and their mom, in part because by the time Thomas filed the complaint, too much time had passed since Joe’s death.

Court documents viewed by PEOPLE confirm that the complaint was dismissed in March and that all parties waived their rights to appeal.

Lawyers for both parties did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.