The widower of a Birmingham nurse who authorities say died of a drug overdose two years ago has filed a lawsuit claiming a Gardendale funeral home allowed photos taken of the woman’s body.
The photos have been part of a years-long smear campaign accusing the husband of murder, the lawsuit claims.
Breana Noojin Nix, 32, died in her Blount County home on March 2, 2020.
Authorities ruled her death an accidental overdose of fentanyl taken from a patient at Princeton Baptist Medical Center where Breana Nix had worked as a nurse.
Her family says she was a nurse for 12 years and had no history of drug use.
They believe her death was a homicide and have long said they are fighting for justice in the case, primarily through the Facebook page Justice for Breana Noojin Nix, which has more than 6,000 followers, and other social media and internet avenues.
Breana’s death was investigated by the Blount County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Chad Long and presented to a grand jury earlier this year.
The grand jury determined that “no living being committed any offense that caused the death of Breana Noojin Nix.”
This week, Breana’s husband, Steven Nix, filed a lawsuit against Breana’s sister, Brittany Noojin, as well as Gardendale Heritage Funeral Home and the New Gardendale Funeral Home in the Jefferson Circuit Court.
Noojin said she was unaware of the lawsuit until contacted by AL.com. The other defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The couple had been married for more than eight years when Steven found his wife dead that Monday afternoon at their Hayden home.
The lawsuit, filed by Birmingham attorneys Yawanna McDonald and Elizabeth Young on behalf of Steven, claims that the funeral home conspired with Noojin and allowed her to take unauthorized photos of Breana’s body.
The family purposely hid the fact that Noojin had pictures of the body to cause injury and embarrass Steven, the lawsuit states.
“Rather than grieving with her brother-in-law, in 2021, in an effort to defame and embarrass (Steven), she wrote online articles, blogs, podcasts and videos claiming that Nix was a murderer,’’ the lawsuit states.
On the Justice for Breana Noojin Nix Facebook page, the suit alleges, Noojin claimed that Steven murdered his wife because she previously saw him commit another murder, and then covered up Breana’s murder.
“In 2022, she began publishing (Steven’s) dead wife’s photographs,’’ the suit states.
“Due to Brittany’s willful and want behavior, online presence and widespread popularity of the Facebook page, (Steven’s) privacy has been invaded by unwanted phone calls, mailings and online communication.”
As a result, according to the lawsuit, many of Steven’s friends and neighbors now view him in a different light.
“Viewing his wife’s photos has caused (Steven) substantial grief, shock, distress and mental anguish,’’ the suit states.
“All of these consequences have, among other things, emotionally scarred (Steven), cast him in a false light, interfered with right and ability to mourn and live, and invaded his privacy.”
Noojin, the suit alleges, has failed to comply with Steven’s request that she retract all of her defamatory statements.
“Without judicial intervention, (Steven) will continue to suffer irreparable harm,’’ the lawyers wrote.
In online postings, Breana’s family contends that Steven’s uncle works for the Blount County Sheriff’s Office and the because of that, in part at least, the investigation was mishandled from the start.
Sheriff Mark Moon said the case was handled appropriately and thoroughly, and praised the handling of the case by District Attorney Pamela Casey. “She was able to explain to (the family) through a plethora of evidence that it wasn’t anything except an accidental overdose,’' Moon said.
According to a GoFundMe site, Breana was found with an “18g needle and over 80 fresh injection sites that appeared to all have been made with the four hours of her returning home from her 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift at Princeton.” Steven reportedly found her unresponsive in the bathroom about noon.
Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey said she tracked the fentanyl vials found in Breana’s home from the manufacturer to the distributor to the hospital to a patient and ultimately to Breana removing them from the hospital.
She said she has met with the family for more than 10 hours and said the family has seen all of the body camera footage from the case, as well as the entire case file.
Noojin earlier this year filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Steven in Blount County claiming he directly or indirectly caused the death of Breana. She has been removed by court order as administrator of her sister’ estate.
That case is still pending.
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