$100M Settlement in Wis. Accident
By MIKE ROBINSON
01:15 AM ET 08/27/99
CHICAGO (AP) - Five companies and two individuals will pay $100 million to
settle a lawsuit arising from a highway accident near Milwaukee that took the lives of six
young siblings, the family's attorneys aid.
The children were killed when their minivan was torn open by a piece of truck
metal on a Wisconsin interstate and caught fire. The Rev. Duane and Janet Willis alleged
negligence and sued the truck driver, the trucking company that employed him, the
manufacturer of their minivan and several other companies involved. ``The heartache will
always be there, but we have the joy of the Lord, and 15 grandchildren,'' Willis said
Thursday as he held hands with his wife after the settlement was announced.
The Chicago family was headed for a birthday party Nov. 8, 1994, when a
mudflap-taillight assembly fell off a tractor-trailer in front of them and became lodged
in the minivan's gas tank. Sparks from the assembly banging against the pavement touched
off the gasoline, and flames engulfed the van, killing all six children. The oldest was
13.
None of the companies admitted fault under the settlement reached with seven of
the nine defendants Thursday, Chicago attorney Joseph Power said.
``I think that the evidence that we gathered in this case and the experts that
we hired were going to show a rather convincing case of misconduct on the part of the
defendants,'' Power said. Ricardo Guzman, the truck driver, has not been charged with
wrongdoing in the accident. His insurers agreed to the settlement. Among those agreeing to
the settlement was Chrysler Corp., which manufactured the family's 1994 Plymouth Grand
Voyager.
Two other defendants - Hanjin Shipping Co. and M&S Transport Inc. - declined
to take part in the settlement.
``This was a tragedy for the Willis family, and we express our sympathy to them,
but there really isn't much you can say in a case like this,'' said Warren Marwedel,
attorney for Transamerica Leasing Inc., a defendant.
