A lawyer for actor Paul Walker’s daughter confirmed Thursday that the estate of the man killed along with her father in a 2013 Porsche crash in Santa Clarita agreed to pay the teen a $10.1 million settlement.
The total amount Meadow Rain Walker received, after deductions for attorneys’ fees and other expenses, was $7.2 million, according to her lawyer, Jeffrey Milam.
The settlement paid by Roger Rodas’ estate is unrelated to another Los Angeles Superior Court filed on behalf of the 17-year-old. That suit against Porsche AG alleges a defective seat belt kept her father trapped alive for more than a minute in a 2005 Carrera GT before it became engulfed in flames on Nov. 30, 2013.
Authorities have said that high speed caused the crash. Electronic information retrieved from the burned-out car’s computer systems determined that Rodas, 38, was driving the sports car at speeds between 80 and 93 mph when the vehicle smashed into a pole and a tree.
The probate court papers filed in November 2014 in connection with the Rodas settlement state that while he was not “directing the car through any particularly unsafe maneuvers when it went out of control,” he was “nevertheless … responsible, in part, for the accident.”
Milam released a statement today regarding the settlement.
“The amount paid by the estate of Roger Rodas into a trust for Meadow Walker only covers a fraction of what her father would have earned as an international movie star had his life not tragically been cut short …,” the statement read.
“Through his estate, Mr. Rodas, the driver of the car, took partial responsibility for the crash. Meadow’s lawsuit against Porsche AG — a $13 billion corporation — intends to hold the company responsible for producing a vehicle that was defective and caused Paul Walker’s death.”
The 40-year-old actor was known for his role in “The Fast and the Furious” film series.
