CHICAGO (AP) -- Five companies and two individuals will pay $100 million to settle a lawsuit arising from a highway accident near Milwaukee that took the lives of six young siblings, the family's attorneys aid.
The children were killed when their minivan was torn open by a piece of truck metal on a Wisconsin interstate and caught fire.The Rev. Duane and Janet Willis alleged negligence and sued the truck driver, the trucking company that employed him, the manufacturer of their minivan and several other companies involved.
"The heartache will always be there, but we have the joy of the Lord -- and 15 grandchildren," Willis said Thursday as he held hands with his wife after the settlement was announced.
The Chicago family was headed for a birthday party Nov. 8, 1994, when a mudflap-taillight assembly fell off a tractor-trailer in front of them and became lodged in the minivan's gas tank. Sparks from the assembly banging against the pavement touched off the gasoline, and flames engulfed the van, killing all six children. The oldest was 13.
None of the companies admitted fault under the settlement.