The father of four children who police say were killed by their mother and grandmother in Mechanicville has served a notice of claim – a mandatory precursor to filing a lawsuit – against the city, Mechanicville City School District, Saratoga County, the Mechanicville Housing Authority and the Ballston Spa Central School District, accusing them of negligence for failing to address and disclose abuse perpetrated against the kids leading up to their deaths.

Brady Harmon, of Utah, intends to seek $400 million for psychological and emotional distress and civil rights violations he and the children suffered, according to the Sept. 10 notice of claim.

Police say the children, ages 10 to 13, were poisoned with Benadryl and an ingredient found in kratom, and one child suffered knife wounds at the hands of their mother Sarah Myers, 44, and grandmother, Amy Steadman, 64, on June 10. Police discovered the bodies of the children and adults, who committed suicide, in an apartment operated by the Mechanicville Housing Authority on June 23.

The notice of claim accuses Myers of taking the children during a custody dispute in 2019 from Utah to New York, where they were subjected to severe abuse and neglect at the hands of her and Steadman. It alleges the adults regularly gave the children unnecessary doses of Benadryl, melatonin, kratom and other substances to control and sicken them. It says the two routinely kept the kids out of Ballston Spa and Mechanicville schools.

The filing states that during one incident on May 29, 2024, the children showed symptoms of overdosing at school from what their mother and grandmother claimed was Benadryl, causing three of the children to be taken to Albany Medical Center and one of them to be given Narcan “as she appeared to be experiencing an opiate overdose.”

The filing states the children became “extremely ill,” exhibiting symptoms consistent with opioid overdose, and alleges they were also given kratom. The claim states the children were never tested for diphenhydramine, the active ingredient in Benadryl, or for kratom, despite their symptoms and history of alleged medication misuse.

“This incident should have triggered immediate criminal and abuse investigations and prosecution of The Perpetrators and should have resulted in The Children being removed from The Perpetrator’s care, but it did not solely due to the negligence, carelessness, recklessness and deliberate indifference of The City, The County and The Schools,” the notice states.

Harmon alleges he was deprived of information about the children’s education, medical treatment and abuse at the apartment complex, and the county, city and schools failed to monitor the children and did not check on the status of their homeschooling after they were pulled out of public schools.

According to the filing, when one of the children began to resist the alleged abuse, he was falsely diagnosed with mental illnesses and prescribed psychotropic medication, which “reduced his ability to fight back.”

“Had (Harmon) been fully informed of the information that The City, The County, the Housing Authority, and The Schools knew, he would have begun emergency legal proceedings to have The Children removed from the custody of The Perpetrators and to ensure The Perpatrators were investigated appropriately,” the claim says.

The legal paperwork says Harmon had asked for multiple wellness checks between June 10, when the children were killed, and when they were found 13 days later.

The notice of claim further alleges that Myers and Steadman used the children “as pawns” during a prolonged custody dispute with Harmon, and that false claims of abuse against Harmon were used to gain sympathy, public resources and money, while blocking Harmon’s access to information about his children.

Harmon is represented by Liakas Law, P.C. of New York City. On Friday, Harmon’s attorneys said more could have been done to protect his kids.

Nicholas Liakas and Cassandra Rohme said in an interview with Spectrum News 1 that the case centers on what they describe as repeated failures by Child Protective Services and other agencies to act despite numerous complaints over several years.

“They have the obligation and they have a duty to protect these children in these high-risk environments when they know that there are problems,” Liakas said. “Time and time again, we just see them failing to act and protect these children.”

Liakas said the $400 million figure, while difficult to calculate, is meant to reflect the scope of harm caused to Harmon and his children’s estates, calling the case “a preliminary claim” that preserves legal rights while the investigation continues.

The attorneys said New York law requires a 90-day waiting period after a notice of claim is served before a lawsuit can be filed, and that they expect to supplement the filing as their investigation continues.

“I don’t think $400 million, I don’t think $1 billion, is an amount of money that he would trade to replace his children,” Liakas said. “That number is representative of the harm that CPS and others have caused to his family.”