Jim and Jane Bradshaw’s grandson, Budde Lee Clark, whom they knew as Jordan Bradshaw, died at the hands of stepmother Robin Gosnell on Jan. 31, 1997.

The 6-year-old was the first of three children who died from abuse in 1997 while under the the supervision of the Rowan County Department of Social Services.

Nearly two years ago, the Bradshaws filed a lawsuit against Rowan County, the Social Services agency charged with protecting Budde, and then-director Rick Travis, claiming the agency contributed to Budde’s abuse and death through inaction.

Now Budde’s maternal grandparents will have to wait until after January 2001 to see that lawsuit tried in court.

Superior Court Judge Larry G. Ford ordered the new schedule at the request of defense attorney H. Lee Davis of Winston-Salem. A previous order slated the trial to begin between April 1 and June 30 this year.

Both sides have named the expert witnesses they may call at trial. The revised schedule sets April 30 as the date by which the plaintiffs must name rebuttal experts, and it gives the defense until May 31 to depose them.

Among witnesses who may be called to testify are doctors who treated Budde, the pathologist who performed his autopsy, an expert in child maltreatment and members of a task force created to study Social Services here after the 1997 deaths.

All other discovery — pretrial procedures to compel the other side to disclose information — is to be completed by July 31, according to the schedule. Other motions to be dealt with before a trial must be filed by Sept. 15.

Included in the information ordered disclosed in this case are Social Services files relating to Robin Gosnell’s children, Sammy Bringle and Christian Pittman, and files relating to Pittman’s children and the children of his wife, Jamie Aestrop Pittman.

The parties must agree upon and submit to the court the name of a mediator by Aug. 1, and must complete mediation by Oct. 31.

By law, the parties must attempt to settle the lawsuit through mediation before going to trial. Failing that, the lawsuit can be set for trial during any term of court after the first of next year.

The parties can agree to have, or the judge can order, the schedule further revised.

Ford also set a schedule for a lawsuit brought against the county, Travis, Social Services and several of the agency’s employees by Salisbury attorney John T. Hudson, administrator for the estate of DeMallon Krider.

Tamanchies Krider, DeMallon’s mother, is serving a life sentence for murdering the 2-year-old in June 1997. She gave birth to DeMallon while in prison and he lived with a foster family until her release, when Social Services gave her custody.

That lawsuit is set for trial after July 1, 2001, according to the schedule. Plaintiffs’ and defense attorneys are the same in Hudson’s and the Bradshaws’ lawsuits.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Mary Beth Smith of Concord is on vacation this week, a woman who answered the telephone at her office said. Neither George B. Hyler Jr. of Asheville, another plaintiffs’ attorney, nor defense attorney Davis returned telephone calls to their offices.