Family members reach partial settlement in Pear Street accident
Dec. 20—A $508,000 settlement has been reached between the family members of four people killed in a 2021 accident on Pear Street and the owner of the property where they died.
Judge Kate Schaefer approved the settlement Friday between Hawk Truck Leasing and the family members. The wrongful death suit was brought by family members of Cody Grace, his children Braxtin, 2, and Anastasia Grace, 1, and their half-sister Rosalie Morse, 3. The four, along with the children's mother, Amy Morse, who was the driver of the car, died when their vehicle overturned into a ditch that was filled with water in the 2900 block of Pear Street on property owned by Hawk Truck Leasing on April 9, 2021.
The five people were trapped in the car as it was submerged upside down in the ditch. Cody Grace's body wasn't found until almost two weeks after the accident because rescuers initially weren't aware he was in the vehicle.
The lawsuit also names the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission as a defendant, and the case between that entity and the family members remains active.
Family members of the victims and neighbors in the area campaigned for repairs to both sides of the street where the accident happened to fix drainage issues, and the Missouri Department of Transportation completed that work this fall.
After attorney fees of $225,000 and case expenses of about $104,000, the family members, who include an uncle, aunt and the two grandmothers of Braxtin and Anastasia Grace, Rosalie Morse's father and Cody Grace's mother, will receive a total of about $179,000.
