Fire company settles claims in teenager’s death at carnival

The Earleigh Heights Volunteer Fire Department has settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a Pasadena teenager killed at its 2011 carnival.

A lawyer for the estate of Kara Micciche announced the settlement in front of county Circuit Judge Philip Caroom on Tuesday morning, the day the lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial. The estate claimed the department failed to implement proper traffic controls, leading to the death of the 17-year-old Broadneck High student.

Attorney Roy Mason asked Caroom for 30 days to hash out all the details. Either side could reopen the lawsuit during that period if it chooses, Caroom said.

Mason and Hamilton Tyler, the assistant county attorney representing the fire department, declined to elaborate on the terms of the agreement. But any damages will come from the county's self- insurance fund, which covers volunteer fire and rescue companies, Tyler said.

Mason and attorneys representing Sean Snyder, who was struck alongside Micciche, sought compensatory damages in excess of $75,000 when they sued in May 2013.

In addition to the fire department, the initial complaint named Anne Arundel County, the state, Jolly Shows, and William Keith Goldman, the driver who struck Micciche.

Claims against the county, state and Jolly Shows, the Annapolis- based carnival operator, were voluntarily dismissed last July, according to online court records.

"The case is over," Mason said. "I think it's a good result for everyone."

Reached by phone Tuesday afternoon, Micciche's father, Joseph Micciche, declined to comment on the settlement.

Micciche and Snyder drove with friends to a shopping center near the intersection of Ritchie Highway and Magothy Bridge Road in Severna Park on the night of July 12, 2011. The couple was walking across the busy highway toward the carnival in an area where there were no crosswalks or signs when they were struck by Goldman's 1999 Chevrolet Cavalier.

Both Snyder and Micciche were taken to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where she later died.

Micciche's estate claimed the fire department should have known people driving to the carnival would park opposite the fairgrounds and walk across Ritchie Highway, and therefore should have provided traffic control or warnings. Some eight months after Micciche's death, the state installed a crosswalk at the intersection.

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