The family of Molly Bloom, a student at Denver’s East High School who was run over by a stretch limousine on prom night last year, announced today that a settlement has been reached in her civil suit involving the limo company, driver, health insurers and others.
Bloom was with a group of promgoers boarding a stretch Hummer limousine on May 13, 2006, when the driver began pulling away, dragging Bloom under the rear tire for 38 feet before stopping, according to reports at the time. She lost a leg in the accident.
“It was a horribly traumatic event for all the high school students, and nobody wanted to drag them through a trial,” Steve Wahlberg, Bloom’s attorney, said today. “Molly is ready to move on to the next chapter in her life.”
That chapter includes plans to attend the University of Colorado at Boulder and to establish her own Bloom Again foundation to support disabled athletes.
Terms of the settlement will remain confidential by agreement of the parties, Wahlberg said.
Settlement money will be used to establish trusts to cover Bloom’s medical and educational costs.
“We put everyone in a room, and I wouldn’t say everyone shook hands, but everybody signed the agreement,” Wahlberg said.
The settlement makes no finding of blame. The family called for a press conference at 1 p.m. today in Wahlberg’s Boulder law offices.
The limo driver, 38-year-old Stanley Sample, pleaded guilty Feb. 20 to careless driving. A judge ordered six months of unsupervised probation and 150 hours of community service helping paraplegics and quadriplegics at the Veterans Administration Medical Center.
Check back with and read The Sunday Denver Post for more on this developing story.
