Canton (OH) has reached a $350,000 settlement in a lawsuit stemming from a fatal auto crash involving a fire truck.
Dale Burlingame was killed and his wife, Grace, seriously injured in the crash about nine years ago on Cleveland Avenue NW. The legal saga has spanned numerous legal challenges and disputes, bouncing from Stark County Common Pleas Court to the 5th District Court of Appeals to the Ohio Supreme Court and back to the trial court.
Canton City Council approved the mediated settlement on first reading Monday night; for payments to take effect, the agreement must be finalized by Stark County Probate Court.
In July 2007, Dale and Grace Burlingame had just celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary, when Dale turned their van onto Cleveland Avenue NW from 18th Street and it was struck by a firetruck. The firefighter who drove the truck said in a deposition and during the case that he thought the traffic light was green, according to the city law department. The truck's siren wasn't working but the driver used the air-horn to alert motorists and the emergency lights were activated, according to the city.
Grace and her husband's estate sued the city in 2009.