Children’s families settle for $110,000

Kim Smith

Wednesday, March 27, 2002 | 11:54 a.m.

One week after filing a lawsuit against the state of Nevada, the families of six children killed while picking up trash on Interstate 15 have settled a lawsuit with the driver of the vehicle and her insurance carrier.

Attorney Rob Murdock, who represents most of the families, said Farmers Insurance has agreed to split $110,000 among the six families. The settlement is $80,000 more than the policy limit of $30,000.

The settlement does not include an admission of guilt or responsibility by driver Jessica Williams, Murdock said.

"Anytime you get more than the policy, you're happy," Murdock said. "It's an apology. They can say whatever they want about their reasons for settling, but it's truly an apology."

Drew Cass, the attorney for Farmers Insurance, could not be reached for comment this morning.

Scott Garner Jr., 14, Anthony Smith, 14, Malena Stoltzfus, 15, Rebeccah Glicken, 15, Jennifer Booth, 16, and Alberto Puig, 16, were struck and killed by Williams' vehicle on March 19, 2000.

The youths were picking up trash as part of their probation for minor crimes.

Williams, 22, was sentenced last March to 18 to 48 years in prison after a jury found her guilty of having marijuana in her blood at the time of the crash.

The families of the victims filed a federal lawsuit against Williams, Clark County and Republic Services of Southern Nevada shortly after the accident.

In November Clark County agreed to pay $3.25 million to the families and Republic Services, which had contracted with the county to pick up the trash, settled for an undisclosed sum at the same time.

Last week, the families filed a lawsuit against the Nevada Department of Transportation and Nevada Highway Patrol alleging both knew the teens were participating in a program that violated federal, state and county laws.