Facts

Jane Doe, the mother of a 7-year-old son and a 9-year-old daughter, lost control of the Mercury Mountaineer she was driving while traveling eastbound on Interstate Highway 80 near Winnemucca, Nev. Her husband was in the passenger seat, wearing a seat belt, and she was wearing a seat belt as well. Her daughter and son were sitting in the back seat, and the driver's husband was asleep when the vehicle went out of control. Jane Doe suffered fatal injuries when the vehicle rolled over a number of times. Her children, who had been seated in the back watching a DVD, were apparently not wearing seat belts when the vehicle went out of control. They were both ejected from the vehicle and suffered fatal injuries.

The plaintiff contended that Jane Doe was negligent in the operation of her vehicle and in her failure to require the children to wear seat belts.

There was also a claim for negligent entrustment against the surviving husband of Jane Doe, but according to his testimony, she had no history of driving irresponsibly, and when he went to sleep, the children were wearing their seat belts and watching a DVD in the back seat of the vehicle.

The plaintiff in this action was the father of Jane Doe's 7-year-old son and this action only involved his wrongful death claim.

Settlement Discussions

Initially the full insurance coverage of $2.1 million was demanded, and after negotiations at the mediation, a settlement offer of $1.3 million was accepted.

Result

The case was settled for $1.3 million at a mediation held before Justice Robert Dossee, retired, of JAMS.

Other Information

The husband of Jane Roe was the owner of the Mercury Mountaineer, and the vehicle had adequate liability coverage. The intra-family exclusion was circumvented because the plaintiff had primary physical custody of his son. The plaintiff, who was the father of the 7-year-old son, and Jane Roe had a history of bitter custody disputes. If the case were not settled, the defendants would have admitted liability and attempted to introduce evidence of Jane Roe's prior accusations discrediting the plaintiff as a parent. In response, the plaintiff was in position to introduce contrary evidence. The parties could not be certain just how much evidence of prior bitter disputes between the decedent and the plaintiff would have been admitted into evidence by the trial judge. Judge Dossee did an excellent job navigating through the high emotions to settle this case. FILING DATE: Nov. 15, 2006