Tony settled.

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Annalee
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Re: Tony settled.

Post by Annalee »

I understand why Tony did it that way, he needs to move on with his life and the happiness of being engaged....but how those parents could not accept the consequences of their son for smoking pot, causing the accident is beyond my comprehension.....that money will never bring him back and if they think money buys happiness....They have a rude awakening coming....
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Re: Tony settled.

Post by HiddenHollow »

This has become very commonplace in our society today. Remember Nicole Brown Simpson's family. They felt a civil suit was their only recourse, but she is still dead.
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Re: Tony settled.

Post by Annalee »

To compare the murder of Nicole Simpson to the accident Tony had ......There is no comparison.....One is an accident and the other is cold blooded murder...
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Re: Tony settled.

Post by alenigma »

O.J. was found innocent. Tony was found innocent! Families still try to get money by suing in civil court. And, of course, money doesn't bring back the departed!
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Re: Tony settled.

Post by HiddenHollow »

The deceased's family is mad and hurting. They feel the legal system let them down and filing a civil suit for money is their only recourse.
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Re: Tony settled.

Post by Annalee »

This is why Tony settled...Wards were claiming that pregnant girlfriend living with Kevin in his parents home was caring Kevin Wards baby....BUT....It was not HIS child....so Lanier, attorney for Wards refused to take the case to trial and told them to take what ever Tony would give them...they tried to get another attorney to take the case....No one wanted anything to do with it...Sometimes things happen in the world....Justice is served...Greed will get you nothing!!


Mother of a race car driver killed nearly four years ago by famed NASCAR driver Tony Stewart says she felt cornered into settling her wrongful death lawsuit by her high-profile lawyer, who she says threatened to abandon the case if it went to trial – an allegation disputed by the attorney.

Pamela Ward says she would have been satisfied with nothing more than a $1 damage award, as long as the facts surrounding her son Kevin Ward’s death on a New York racetrack were laid out for the world to know at a trial that was supposed to have begun May 7. Instead, attorney Mark Lanier’s firm told her to settle or it would stop representing her and her husband, she claimed in a recent interview with Legal Newsline.

Adding to the pressure to settle was the fact that a child previously thought to be her son’s turned out not to be. “For a year we had no reason to suspect anything other than this was Kevin’s child. It was the main reason we filed the case,” said Pamela Ward, who also voiced her displeasure with the settlement in April to USA Today.


“I think Lanier thought this was going to be a huge case – a baby without a father. But once we lost the baby, we lost our damages, and he felt he would no longer take it to trial because it was not going to be a high-damages case.”

In a statement to Legal Newsline, Lanier defended himself and his firm’s handling of the case, claiming it told the Wards that they would go to trial if a settlement couldn’t be reached.

“This is so wrong, the question is where to begin,” Lanier said. “(Lanier Law attorney Jud Waltman) specifically told her right before settlement that we would try her case if it didn’t settle.

“(T)he case certainly lost economic value when there was no surviving child. Under New York law, the parental damages for loss of an adult child are quite limited.

“I feel bad for Ms. Ward and wish we could have helped her find peace of mind. But I don’t think that the justice system could give her that.”

Ward feels differently, upset that first the criminal justice system, and then the civil justice system failed her and her husband, Kevin Sr., after the suit they filed against Stewart over the 2014 death of Kevin Jr. at a Super Sprint event at Canandaigua Motorsports Park in Ontario County, N.Y., settled out of court last month.

During the 14th lap of the race, Stewart’s car made contact with Ward’s, causing Ward to crash into the wall at the high side of the track. And while the race was under caution, Ward got out of his vehicle and made his way a short distance down the track on foot.

“While the race was under a caution flag, 13 other cars passed Ward on the low side of the track before Stewart made his way all the way around the track to the point where he was approaching Kevin A. Ward, Jr. ‐ and 6 cars safely passed Ward while he was standing on the track,” the complaint says.

“Unlike the other race car drivers who had just passed by Kevin A. Ward, Jr., instead of going low on the track per the regulations of the event, Stewart came up the track directly toward Kevin Ward, Jr. As Stewart’s car approached Ward, who was standing on the track, Stewart climbed up, gunned his engine, causing his 700 horsepower vehicle to slide and strike Ward with his right rear tire, crushing Ward and flinging his body an estimated 25 feet down the track.”

Ward contends that prosecutors should have held Stewart responsible for “at least” vehicular manslaughter. But she claims an investigation focused on Kevin getting out of his car, and not on Stewart’s aggression.

It was also determined that Kevin had levels of marijuana in his blood. Stewart's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“I’m sorry, it’s not about what my son did, it’s about what Tony Stewart did. He did something wrong. Why didn’t he get charged?”

When filing suit, she turned to the Houston-based Lanier, a personal injury attorney with a history of multimillion-dollar recoveries. One of those, however, was recently nixed when a federal appeals court ruled his “deceptions furnish independent grounds for a new trial” of a $151 million verdict.

Lanier’s firm represented the Wards on a contingency fee basis and said it would drop them as clients if they didn’t accept Stewart’s settlement offer, Pamela claims.

“I couldn’t find another lawyer,” Ward said. “I contacted 10-12 high profile lawyers at that point and no firm was willing to take the case due to the fact that trial was one month away...and the high expenses in paying to get the file.”

Ward willingly accepted the settlement offer, terms of which she said are confidential, because she didn’t believe any other options were available.

“If we didn’t settle, Tony would have gotten away for free,” she said. “At least we got some financial accountability that was better than nothing.”

Ward said she and her husband initially hired Lanier based on advice from others that a “high-profile” attorney was needed because Stewart was going to have the best lawyers available to him.
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Re: Tony settled.

Post by HiddenHollow »

I had no idea there was a pregnant girlfriend factor involved in this mess. I'm just glad it's over.
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