Ending a four and a half years of court battle that rewrote state law, a Ladera Ranch family tormented by grisly accident photos of their daughter on the Internet has settled a lawsuit against the California Highway Patrol for leaking images that went viral worldwide.
The CHP agreed to pay the family of Nicole "Nikki" Catsouras $2.375 million Friday after a judge ordered the two sides to talk ahead of a jury trial scheduled for March, CHP spokesman Fran Clader said.
The remains of the Porsche 911 that Nikki Catsouras was driving are shown crumpled up against a toll-booth building at Alton Parkway in Lake Forest. Catsouras, 18, lost control of the car and died in the Oct. 31, 2006, crash.
The deal puts an end to an emotionally charged legal drama waged by Lesli and Christos Catsouras on behalf of their daughter, Nicole "Nikki" Catsouras.
Nikki's horribly disfigured remains are permanently on display on hundreds of websites after an Oct. 31, 2006, crash that left the 18-year-old nearly decapitated.
On top of the grief of losing the eldest of their four daughters, Lesli and Christos Catsouras say they and their three surviving daughters have had to endure a never-ending nightmare of knowing that a click of a mouse can unknowingly bring up ghastly images of Nikki on their computer screen.
"The family was compensated for the emotional pain and suffering associated with the release of the photos," Catsouras family attorney Keith Bremer said. "The CHP came to the table with significant funds in an effort to resolve this case and remove any chances of a monumental verdict."
In a statement, Clader said: "No amount of money can compensate for the pain the Catsouras family has suffered. We have reached a resolution with the family to save substantial costs of continued litigation and a jury trial. It is our hope that with this legal issue resolved, the Catsouras family can receive some closure."
Nikki was killed after she sped off in her father's Porsche on the afternoon of Halloween 2006. It was a high-performance vehicle she had never driven before, according to her parents. Driving more than 100 mph, she lost control of the Porsche after she clipped another car on the 241 toll road in Lake Forest.
The Porsche then careened from northbound lanes across a grassy median into the southbound lanes before slamming into an unmanned toll booth.
Nikki died instantly. The driver of the other vehicle did not suffer significant injuries.