Professional Wrestling December 1933

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STARTS $10,000 SUIT ON DAUGHTER'S DEATH
(Toronto ON Daily Star, December 8, 1933)

Joseph (Toots) Mondt, professional wrestler and sports promoter, Prospect City, U.S.A., is the defendant in a dual supreme court action opened before Mr. Justice Jeffrey today.

In the first action, Mrs. Elvira Luccioni sues Mondt for $10,000 damags for the death of her only daughter, Theresa Luccioni, aged 19, killed as the result of a collision August 21, 1932, on the highway a few miles south of Collingwood, between the car driven by Mondt and that driven by J. Edward Burnie, in which Miss Luccioni was a passenger.

The second action, to be tried concurrently, is brought by Ralph O. Mondt, brother of the defendant, who, as a passenger in his brother's car, received injuries for which he claims $5,000 damages, from "Toots" Mondt and J. Edward Burnie.

In her statement of claim, Mrs. Luccioni makes charges of negligence, reckless driving and incompetence against both drivers.

Mondt denies negligent driving and claims to have been going at a reasonable rate, but that Burnie swerved his car just as the two vehicles were passing.

JUDGMENTS ARE RESERVED IN SUITS AGAINST MONDT
(The Globe, Toronto ON, December 15, 1933)

Judge Jeffrey, in non-jury Assize Court, reserved judgment in the $10,000 damage action brought by Mrs. Elvira Luccioni against Joseph (Toots) Mondt, New York wrestler and promoter, for the death of her daughter, Theresa, who was killed in a motor crash near Collingwood in August, 1932. His Lordship also reserved judgment in the $5,000 suit brought by Ralph Mondt against his brother, for loss of earnings and compensation for injuries and suffering, J.E. Burnie, driver of the other car involved in the crash, is named co-defendant in the latter suit.

NOTE--Gary Will says that Toots Mondt was a partner in Jack Corcoran's Toronto booking office "and was even for a time the majority owner." Torontoan D. Lally McCarthy -- "later the treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada and the son of one of the founders of the law firm that evolved into McCarthy Tetrault, now one of Canada's largest" -- got Mondt out on $20,000 bail after the guilty verdict, although the latter was not allowed to leave Ontario and spent "about three months" in the area. The court favored Mondt's appeal, overturned the conviction and Mondt was free to leave. A third passenger in the Mondts' car, reputedly a dancer (who moved to New York during these proceedings) testified on Toots' behalf.

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