By The newspaper
28 Oct 2023, 3:12 PM EDT
The families of the four women who died in a limousine crash in New York and their friends who survived the accident have reached a compensation settlement for $6.1 million.
The multiple lawsuit was against the company and the manufacturer of the limousine, the drivers Carlos Pino and Steven Romeo and the city of Southold, in the Suffolk County of Long Island.
More than eight years have passed since the tragedy that occurred on July 18, 2015, when Pino, the driver of the limousine carrying eight young women, made a three-point U-turn at the Cutchogue intersection.
Romeo, who was driving a pickup truck, crashed into the limousine, killing four of the eight occupants. The others were seriously injured. The drivers were not found criminally responsible, he noted. ABCNews.
Ultimate Class Limousine Inc. and driver Pino must pay $1.5 million each. Romeo and the company he co-owns, Romeo Dimon Marine Services Inc., will write off $500,000.
The city of Southold is responsible for paying $100,000 and the maker of the 2007 Lincoln Town Car limousine will pay the largest amount: $4 million.
Additionally, the families of the victims have over the last few years managed to get the state of New York to approve some of the strictest safety standards for limousines in the country.
But that didn’t stop a similar tragedy from happening that left 20 dead in the summer of 2018 when a limousine left the road after the vehicle’s brakes failed in Schoharie, a rural area of New York about 30 miles west of the city. capital Albany. It is considered one of the deadliest road tragedies in recent United States history. In May of this year Nauman Hussain, manager of the limousine service, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
The authorities remember that there is zero tolerance for drivers who drive at excess speed and/or under the influence of alcohol and drugs.