Pennsylvania Family Awarded $2.9 Million in DUI-Hit-and-Run

The family of a 14-year-old Bensalem, Pennsylvania girl who was killed in a 2004 hit-and-run crash while she was trying to cross a road has been awarded $2.9 million by a Bucks County judge. The case was decided without a jury.

The 21-year-old driver that struck the girl was driving with a suspended license and was found to be intoxicated at the time of the crash. The police did not charge him with DUI-related hit-and-run saying that road condition and other factors, not his drunkenness, caused the crash. The driver, however, was sentenced to three to six years in a state prison for the accident, and is currently in jail.

The family of the deceased brought a civil trial against the driver and the owner of the vehicle the man was driving. According to PhillyBurbs.com, the judge awarded the plaintiffs $697,749.92 in wrongful death damages against both defendants; $1.5 million in survival action damages against both defendants; $600,000 in punitive damages against the driver; and $150,000 in punitive damages against the car’s owner.