Woman who strangles attacker wins $1 million from estranged husband
Posted by The Oregonian March 06, 2008 11:55AM
Susan Kuhnhausen, who strangled a man who had been hired to kill her, has won more than $1 million in a civil case against her estranged husband.
A Multnomah County Circuit Court jury Wednesday unanimously awarded Kuhnhausen $53,700 for her medical expenses and lost wages after the September 2006 attack planned by Michael Kuhnhausen. The jury 11-1 also agreed Kuhnhausen deserved $1 million for emotional distress.
Susan Kuhnhausen fought off and killed the home intruder -- Edward Dalton Haffey, but suffered blows to the head from a claw hammer, bruising and bites.
Michael Kuhnhausen was sentenced in September 2007 to 10 years in prison.
Susan Kuhnhausen declined to be interviewed, but her attorney Susan Eggum said she lives in fear that her estranged husband will hire someone to kill her, even though he's behind bars. The emergency room nurse drives different routes to work, so as not to make it easy for someone to make a hit, Eggum said. She's constantly looking in her rearview mirror to see if someone's following her.
"And from time to time she'll pull over to make a note of someone's license plate," said Eggum, who worked on the case with attorney Paul Berg.
Although Eggum doesn't expect Michael Kuhnhausen, 59, to ever earn enough to pay the full amount of the settlement, it "will provide some level of assurance" that Kuhnhausen won't be able to afford to hire someone else to murder his wife.
Michael Kuhnhausen didn't appear in court during the two-day trial. His attorney, Scott Upham, couldn't be reached for comment.
- Aimee Green
