Washington state to pay $28M settlement to crash survivor

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) – Washington state has agreed to pay a $28 million settlement to woman who was left quadriplegic in wreck on Interstate 5 in DuPont.

The News Tribune reports 20-year-old Skylar Seward filed a lawsuit against the state Department of Transportation after the car she was riding in crashed into an overpass pillar in October 2013.

The lawsuit claimed a guardrail or barrier should have been installed to stop a car from hitting the pillar, but instead there was an earthen berm.

Seward’s attorneys say the berms were proven ineffective, and the state Legislature in 2006 had funded a six-year plan to replace them. They claim the department failed to do so.

The department says the 26 remaining earthen berms will be fixed between 2019 and 2021.

___

Information from: The News Tribune, http://www.thenewstribune.com