Sorry, 'dead' probably wasn't the best word to use. 'failing break light switch' is probably a better description.
Checking the break lights was the first thing I tested when I made the connection between the error and the breaks. No problems at all.
While I could get no error codes from the OBD2, my mechanic with better equipment was able to get 2 errors from the logs, one of which was the break light switch.