City, family of man killed in crash agree to amount

The family will get the cash after the probate court finalizes the agreement.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- An out-of-court settlement has been reached in a lawsuit brought by the estate of Mark Simpson, a 30-year-old Howland man killed in a collision with the patrol car of Niles Police Chief Bruce Simeone.
Simpson's estate had won a case in April in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court against the city. Jurors determined then that the family was entitled to the $823,000 as damages because Simeone's cruiser crashed into Simpson's car in 1996, killing him and a passenger.
Simeone was a captain at the time and was responding to a hostage situation at Ponderosa Restaurant on U.S. Route 422 when his cruiser collided with Simpson's Corvette, which was pulling from a parking lot on Route 422 a short distance from the restaurant.
Atty. Patrick Fire of Boardman, who represented Simpson's estate, would not say how much the settlement was -- but that it was very close to the amount the jury originally agreed upon. He said the settlement "basically saw to it that the jury verdict was satisfied."
Simpson's family had not received any of the $823,000 judgment the jury awarded because the city appealed the decision to the 11th District Court of Appeals. In October, the family sued the city again, this time asking for pre-judgment interest in the amount of $1 million.
A suit seeking pre-judgment interest is one in which the party that wins the judgment asks for interest on that judgment dating back to the time of the accident -- in this case April 8, 1996 -- if the party required to pay the money failed to make a good-faith effort to settle the case, the lawsuit states.
Fire said the settlement ends the case for pre-judgement interest, which was being handled by Visiting Judge Thomas Patrick Curran of Cuyahoga County, and the appeals court case.
What's next
The settlement owed to the family will be paid after the case is finalized through Trumbull County Probate Court, Fire and probate court officials said.
Also killed in the accident was Bronsel Cain Jr., 29, whose family reached an undisclosed settlement with the city in April.
A jury found in January 2005 that Simeone and the city were liable for the accident. After that verdict, another court proceeding was held to determine the monetary damages. A grand jury previously found no criminal wrongdoing by the chief.
runyan@vindy.com