the settlement in todays news,,,,,,,,,,,
reefman
key largo
Family gets $12 million in boat accident settlement
BY ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff
alinhardt@keysnews.com
A civil lawsuit filed by the family of a father and son who suffered severe head injuries when they were struck by a dive boat’s propellers has been settled with the business for $12 million, according to court documents.
Calvin Adkins, then 11, and his father, Jared C. Adkins, then 39, both of Harrington, Delaware, were run over by the 46-foot Big Dipper, of the Florida Keys Dive Center in Tavernier. The two were struck by the boat’s propellers just after getting in the water near Conch Reef, nine miles south of Key Largo, in August 2011.
The family filed a federal civil lawsuit against the business in April 2014 and the matter had been scheduled for trial this summer; however, the matter was resolved on May 15, court documents state.
Those records show the charter boat business agreed to pay $11 million to Calvin Adkins and $1 million to Jared Adkins. The settlement must be approved by the court, in this instance Senior U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King.
The records also state: “As part of this settlement, Big Dipper will provide the boat propellers involved in this accident to Jared C. Adkins.”
King had not approved the agreement as of Tuesday, but it is rare for judges to reject civil settlements agreed upon prior to trial. The intention of such mediation is generally to avoid a trial.
Messages left with the law firms representing the Adkins family and the charter business did not return messages seeking comment.
Recent paperwork filed in the lawsuit shed light on the severity of the injuries both Adkins’ suffered.
The father and son underwent emergency craniotomies, in which part of the skull is removed to allow a swelling brain room to expand. The son underwent another operation at Miami Children’s Hospital in which a cranioplasty was performed — the repair of a damaged or deformed skull using bones from elsewhere on his body.
Both father and son suffered “permanent injuries, including brain damage and skull fractures,” court records state.
The jury trial had been set for Aug. 17, but that order will be removed as per King’s ruling on the settlement.
alinhardt@keysnews.com
