$325,000 Settlement for Missouri Car Crash

Madison Soots, an 18-year-old Warrenton woman, was injured in a June 2013 crash when a newly-licensed driver, 16-year-old James Warrick of St. Charles,  lost control on a wet roadway. The settlement claims with the other driver’s insurer and her own insurance company totaled $325,000.

Her injuries required surgery, said plaintiff’s attorney Bradley Cundiff of Coyne, Cundiff, and Hillemann in Lake St. Louis. Cundiff also said his client has anxiety while driving or riding in a car and has significant scarring on her leg, which has affected her ability to compete as a college cheerleader.

According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol accident report, Warrick was driving a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan on westbound Missouri Route 94 “too fast for the curved, wet roadway” when he crossed the center line after attempting to change lanes and struck Soots in a 2004 Mazda 6 traveling in the opposite direction. The Mazda was then hit by a third car.

Both Soots and Warrick were flown by helicopter to the hospital. Online court records show that Warrick is also a defendant in a civil suit filed in St. Charles County Circuit Court by Mazda driver Haiyang Wei, 34, of St. Peters.