Boy injured in ‘affluenza’ drunk driving accident gets $2 million

A Texas teenager who was seriously injured after his involvement in a 2013 wreck will receive a $2 million settlement from the family of the at-fault driver. The victim was riding in the vehicle with a teenager who famously used the “affluenza” defense during his criminal trial. The driver, age 16 at the time of the wreck, killed several victims and injured many of his friends in that drunk driving accident.

Official reports show that this victim’s medical bills quickly reached $1 million after the collision. That young man has suffered such serious brain injury that he cannot speak or move his body. He is categorized as “minimally responsive,” according to his family members. The family’s medical bills quickly accumulated during the six months after the fatal accident.

In all, the settlement will include a cash payment of more than $1 million. The young man’s relatives will also receive payments from the at-fault driver’s family. The lawsuit targeted the negligent driver’s parents, along with his father’s company — the defendant was behind the wheel of a company truck at the time of the wreck.

Four people were killed when the at-fault driver smashed into a crowd of pedestrians in Fort Worth. That car also struck a parked car, which was sent sliding into a vehicle that was traveling in the opposite direction. Two people in the bed of the pickup truck — including this victim — were injured in the crash.

Defendants should be held accountable for their actions in criminal and civil court. In this case, the victim accumulated massive medical bills, and his life has been forever changed because of the drunk driving accident. No family should be left with those enormous medical expenses; at-fault parties should be required to pay.

Source: CNN, “Brain-injured teen receives $2 million in ‘affluenza’ case settlement” Dana Ford and Suzanne Presto, May. 08, 2014