$8.75M Settlement in Staten Island Ferry Crash

Aug. 26--The family of a lawyer killed in the 2003 Staten Island Ferry crash settled its case against the city for $8.75 million, believed to be the highest wrongful death payout in the crash that took 11 lives and injured scores of other ferry passengers.

Lawyers for Kathy Healy, whose husband, John, 44, died in the Oct. 15, 2003, accident, announced the settlement yesterday at Brooklyn federal court shortly before the case was to go to trial.

Kathy Healy, whose husband was a managing attorney for Kemper Insurance, strongly criticized the city for its hard line in hers and other cases.

"Throughout these years, the City tried every legal maneuver to wear us down, and to stop us from being fairly compensated," she read in a statement outside court. "It wasn't until a judge ordered an independent mediator to resolve this, and almost five years after the tragedy, and one week before the trial, the City of New York finally got it."

The only higher settlement was $8.9 million in February 2007 for Paul Esposito, 27, who lost both legs when the Andrew J. Barberi slammed into a concrete pier.

It was the effort of Kenneth Feinberg, who administered the Sept. 11 compensation fund, that finally broke the impasse in the Healy case, said James Ryan, one of the attorneys who represent the widow and her four children.

Ryan said that even after Judge Jack B. Weinstein recommended mediation, the city lowered its offer to the Healy family by $1 million.

But Feinberg proved to be a good mediator, said Ryan.

"We believe this settlement was in the best interest of all parties. We recognize the pain suffered by Mr. Healy's family over his tragic passing. We hope the settlement brings them some measure of closure," said Kate O'Brien Ahlers, a spokeswoman for the city's law department.

City officials said the agreement is one of 127 claims settled for a total of $45 million, with 44 cases remaining. One of the unresolved cases is that of quadriplegic James McMillan, whose case is on trial before Weinstein.

After the crash, the city took the case into federal court in an effort to limit its damages to about $14.4 million under maritime law. But Judge Edward Korman ruled that the city, as owner of the ferry, couldn't limit its liability for the deaths and injuries caused by the criminal acts of the vessel pilot and the former director of the ferry service, as well as its own negligence.