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Settlement in suit over slain Burger King worker totals $2 million(Chicago Tribune (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Mar. 20--The family of a slain restaurant worker has accepted a $2 million settlement in a wrongful-death lawsuit against Burger King Corp. and the franchisee of the restaurant where she was killed in 2006, Lake County court records state. In court Thursday, an attorney for the family of Mary Hutchison sought to have the financial details of the settlement sealed, but Judge Raymond McKoski denied the request. According to the court order filed a day before in McKoski's courtroom, Hutchison's husband, Ken, is set to receive about $663,000 as part of the settlement. Richard Nothnagle, her son, is to receive about $332,000, and her daughter, Rebeccah Hutchison, is to get $373,000, the order states. The balance of the settlement, about $633,000, is to go to Ken Hutchison's attorney, Kathleen Zellner, for fees and reimbursement of expenses, the order states. The settlement is to be paid out by the restaurant franchisee's insurance company, she said Thursday. Mary Hutchison, 45, of Trevor, Wis., was stabbed and strangled, apparently during a robbery, in the early hours of Nov. 27, 2006, in a Burger King restaurant in Lindenhurst, authorities said. James Ealy, a former employee at the same location, has been charged in her murder. Ken Hutchison sued Burger King and his wife's direct employers, Fox Lake Family Dining, Spence Group Service Inc., Northern Illinois Family Dining and William Spence, arguing they were negligent for failing to perform a thorough background check on Ealy, who has a long criminal record including a rape conviction when he was a teenager and a 1984 quadruple-murder conviction that was later overturned. He also was convicted for attacking a prostitute in 1996. Zellner previously said a confidentiality agreement kept the dollar amounts of the settlement secret, but Mitchell Orpett, an attorney for the franchisee, said Thursday no such agreement existed. Orpett said though the franchisee's insurance company opted to settle the case, his clients were ready to fight the case in court and were making no admission of fault. The franchisee "was more than happy to defend itself," Orpett said. "We had evidence to refute every allegation." [email protected] More articles Relive great moments in Chicago history: Photos, video, stories and more To see more of the Chicago Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.chicagotribune.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Chicago Tribune Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |