Lawyer for California off-road race crash victims says $5.8M settlement reached

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FILE - EDITORS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT - In this Aug. 14, 2013 file photo, bystanders rush to help a victim, center, pinned under an overturned off-road race truck moments after it plowed into a crowd after sailing off a jump at the California 200 off-road race in Lucerne Valley Calif. A lawyer said Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013, that a global settlement has been reached to pay .8 million to the families of eight people killed and 12 injured in the California desert off-road race crash. Attorney Katherine Harvey-Lee said an agreement was reached in mediation with federal government lawyers. Harvey-Lee says the agreement still must be approved by the Department of Justice and signed off by a judge. She says she represents three injured spectators and the father of one of those killed. (AP Photo/Dave Conklin, File)

SANTA ANA, Calif. – An agreement has been reached to pay $5.8 million to the families of eight people killed and 12 injured in a California desert off-road race crash in 2010, a lawyer said Wednesday.

Attorney Katherine Harvey-Lee said the deal was reached in mediation on Tuesday with federal government lawyers. The incident occurred when a truck crashed through spectators at the California 200 race in the Mojave Desert.

The agreement still must be approved by the Department of Justice and by a judge, said Harvey-Lee, who represents three injured spectators and the father of one person killed.

Under the agreement, the Bureau of Land Management would pay $4.825 million and race organizers and promoters Mojave Desert Racing Inc., and Mojave Desert Racing Productions Inc., would pay their $1 million insurance policy limit, she said.

Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, declined to comment on the agreement. A message was left for the BLM seeking comment.

A message was also left for lawyers representing Mojave Desert Racing.

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