A university athlete’s heirs

by Walter Olson on December 30, 2004

But the lion took the biggest share:

Relatives of an Oklahoma State basketball player killed in a university plane crash in 2001 were awarded a $1.6 million settlement, a newspaper [The Oklahoman] reported Monday….

Lawson, a 21-year-old junior guard, was one of 10 men who died Jan. 27, 2001, when an airplane carrying members of the basketball program crashed in a Colorado field on the way back from a basketball game at the University of Colorado….

Lawson’s son, Ramses B. Hereford, received $440,139, his parents, Daniel Lawson Sr. and Phyllis Lawson, each received $223,238 and the remaining money — nearly $730,000 — was awarded to attorneys for legal fees and costs, according to court records.

Contributing to the settlement are North Bay Charter, the owner of the downed airplane; the estate of the late pilot, Denver Mills; Marathon Power Technologies, a maker of airplane parts; and Oklahoma State University. Wichita-based Raytheon Aircraft did not settle, and a lawsuit continues seeking to saddle it with the blame for the crash. (”Legal wrangling not finished”, AP/ESPN, Dec. 19).

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{ 1 comment }

1 Ravings of John C. A. Bambenek 01.03.05 at 6:35 pm

An examination of legal fees…

Take a look at : http://www.overlawyered.com/archives/001865.html

Not so much the case, which is unremarkable, but the distribution of the settlement…

The child: $440,139
The parents: $223,238
The lawyers: $730,000 (nearly)

How is it t…

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