State to pay $500K to Ashland man whose wife died in crash

MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — The state of Oregon will pay $500,000 to an Ashland man whose wife died in a head-on collision with a wrong-way drunk driver.

A civil trial was to begin Tuesday in Jackson County over the 2014 death of 911 dispatcher Karen Greenstein.

The Mail Tribune says the settlement was approved Friday.

Her husband, Bill Greenstein argued in his lawsuit that the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles shouldn’t have granted a driver’s license to Richard Webster Scott, Jr.

Scott had five convictions for driving under the influence in California and a suspended and revoked license in that state.

He’s now serving nearly 12 years in prison after being convicted of first-degree manslaughter in Greenstein’s death.

Greenstein’s estate will also get $100,000 from the company that insured the minivan Scott was driving.