Dec 24, 2007 10:45 pm US/Eastern
$6 Mil Settlement In Big Dig Death
BOSTON (CBS) ―
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Angel and Milena Del Valle were the couple caught in the big dig tunnel collapse.
CBS
A $6 million settlement between a New York company and the family of a Boston woman killed in the Big Dig collapse is finalized.
When tons of concrete fell from the ceiling of the Big Dig tunnel in July of 2006, the passenger in the car, Milena Delvalle was crushed to death. Sources told CBS station WBZ-TV in Boston Monday that the $6 million settlement between Powers Fasteners, the company that supplied the epoxy for the ceiling, and Del Valle's family is a done deal.
"It's one chapter in a long book of disasters in this case," said David Frank of Mass Lawyers Weekly.
Frank said the settlement is one piece of a very big puzzle and adds the deal may help some of the other players named in the wrongful death suit, including project manager Bechtel Parsons.
"Logically the other pieces of the puzzle, the other companies in this case are going to point the finger at the company that has already admitted wrongdoing and say we didn't do anything, and this helps bolster that argument," Frank said.
According to Attorney General Martha Coakley, the $6 million payment won't have any impact on the criminal manslaughter charge against the New York-based company. Powers allegedly failed to sound the warning of the consequences of using a fast-drying epoxy on the ceiling.
"The one company that is charged criminally is the one company that has made resolution on the wrongful death case. It makes sense," Frank said.
Powers Fasteners is one of 17 defendants in the wrongful death suit and so far the small family owned company is the only company charged criminally in this case.
WBZ-TV contacted several of the lawyers involved and a spokesperson for Powers Fasteners but no one would comment.
The case was finally settled through mediation with Commonwealth Mediation, the same group that settled the church abuse case with the Archdiocese of Boston.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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