Gaming briefs for March 6, 2001

Tuesday, March 6, 2001 | 11:07 a.m.

BILOXI, Miss. -- An elderly Florida woman who lost her sense of smell after she was struck by a Biloxi casino's shuttle bus has settled her lawsuit for $400,000.

Edith Baker's attorney, Will Denton, said President Casino's parent company, The President Riverboat Casino Mississippi Inc., wouldn't settle with his client until he obtained a video surveillance tape of the 1996 incident.

The shuttle bus hit Edith Baker in April 1996 as she attempted to cross the casino's pedestrian crosswalk.

Baker, now 82, was knocked unconscious, suffered five fractured ribs, a concussion and an injury that damaged a nerve in her forehead.

Several months later, Baker believed she had recovered from the accident until she had tried to sniff the sweet smell of a carnation and realized she had lost her sense of smell. Doctors attributed the loss to the accident.

Baker, who lives near Fort Myers, Fla., filed a lawsuit in April 1999, claiming the bus driver was negligent because he failed to yield to a pedestrian crosswalk and that a 6-foot fence obstructed the view of motorists approaching the crosswalk. Baker is 5 feet tall.

The casino declined comment on the settlement.