Stunning end to Zahau civil case as family settles, wipes out jury finding
The announcement by lawyer
Greer gave no insight or details of the settlement. "All I'm at liberty to say is the case has been resolved," he said outside court. He declined to say how much money the case settled for.
Before the trial began last year Greer said there was a
The man who became the focus of the civil trial,
"They were tired of throwing money at it," he said of the insurance company. Both he and his lawyer,
Last April, a jury voted 9-3 that
But it's unclear what appeal if any is possible.The case was dismissed with prejudice -- meaning it can never be refiled -- leaving nothing from which to file an appeal.
That clearly did not sit well with
Greer brushed off the insults, and repeated what he had said earlier: The family would now press the county Medical Examiner to change the findings in
Zahau's nude body was found
The message read: "She saved him can you save her."
County authorities said there was no evidence -- no fingerprints, DNA or footprints belonging to anyone other than Zahau -- indicating she was killed.
Greer argued that Shacknai battered his brother's girlfriend, hit her on the head, sexually assaulted and manually strangled her, then staged the hanging to look like she took her own life.
Outside court, Shacknai flatly denied killing Zahau. His attorney
While technically the dismissal eliminates the verdict and judgment, Weisburst acknowledged that practically the finding holding Shacknai responsible remains in the public conscience.
"Many, if not most people, are not going to understand the legal particulars here," Weisburst said.
On
In the
But Bacal was openly skeptical in her ruling. She wrote the investigation "leaves almost as many questions unanswered as answered" and focused on the cryptic message, which she said Zahau likely did not write.
She then added: "And if she did not, someone else did. Determining who wrote the message would certainly be circumstantial evidence pointing to who killed
"As a result, it is not unreasonable to still ask, 'who killed
Twitter: @gregmoran
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