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

A Massachusetts woman who used a DNA test kit to learn about her absent father says she found not only answers but also a family — and then a reason to sue them for what she believes is her share of a multimillion-dollar wrongful death award.

The story began in February 2023, when 28-year-old Carmen Thomas of Lexington, Mass., turned to 23andMe to gather information about her father, whom she had always been told was named Joe Brown, according to a complaint reviewed by the outlet.

After years of unsuccessful attempts to track him down, Thomas submitted a DNA sample. By the following month, she had connected with two women believed to be her half-sisters, Kali and Abigail Brown — only to learn that their father had died five years earlier.

The three women met in person for the first time on March 18 and spent what the complaint describes as a “wonderful day together.”

Following that first meeting, they stayed in touch, and Thomas was eventually introduced to Abigail and Kali’s mother, Kristin Eckhardt.

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

But on April 7, 2023, Kali texted Thomas to ask for some distance, explaining that she and her sister were “missing our father a lot, and it’s not really been easy,” according to the filing.

The complaint states that this was the last time Thomas heard from either sister.

In January 2024, as the anniversary of the man she believed to be her father’s death approached, Thomas searched online for more details about his life. That’s when she allegedly discovered the existence of a wrongful death lawsuit, according to the complaint.

In January 2018, Joe Brown died of an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm at a medical center in Salem, Mass., leading to a medical-malpractice case that resulted in a multimillion-dollar award, per reports from The Wall Street Journal and the ABA Journal. According to Thomas’ complaint, Kali’s text asking for space came just after the jury in that case was selected.

With interest, the award totaled about $28 million, according to the complaint. However, as reported by the ABA Journal and Law360, the case was ultimately settled for an undisclosed amount.

By February 2024, Thomas had filed a lawsuit against the Brown sisters and Eckhardt. In it, she argued that if she was also Joe Brown’s daughter, she was entitled to a portion of the wrongful death recovery.

The move came as a shock to the Browns, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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

Lipchitz told the outlet that the lawsuit has since been settled and “was resolved favorably” for Kali, Abigail and their mother — in part because by the time Thomas filed her complaint, too much time had passed since Joe Brown’s death.

Court documents viewed by the outlet show that the complaint was dismissed in March and that all parties agreed to waive their rights to appeal.

Attorneys for both sides did not immediately respond to requests for comment.