May 30 2007 - Wrongful death suit in 2005 drowning

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A Martinez woman has filed a federal wrongful-death lawsuit against the United States, accusing the Army Corps of Engineers of failing to replace warning signs along the Yuba River, where her husband died in a rafting accident two years ago.

Joseph Bailey, 41, died May 29, 2005, after the raft he was riding in with his two sons, then ages 11 and 14, capsized after washing over Daguerre Point Dam, which sits below the water along the Yuba River near Marysville in Yuba County, authorities said.

The older boy made it out safely on his own, and Bailey was able to push his younger son to safety, said Gregory Rueb, a Concord attorney who filed a lawsuit May 18 on behalf of Bailey's widow, Bridget, his sons and his stepdaughter.

Bailey's body was recovered from the Feather River in Sutter County less than two weeks later.

Ten days before the incident, a release of water from a dam upstream washed out signs warning people about the Daguerre Point Dam, Rueb said.

In December, the Department of the Army rejected a claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, filed by the family. The federal government has not yet responded to the lawsuit in court.