Settlement reached for injuries from alcohol-related accident

A Washington, D.C., woman and a Connecticut man involved in an August 1987 alcohol-related auto accident reached a settlement this week on a civil lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Bangor.

Margaret Tennille will receive $140,000, and Richard Mardoian of New Canaan, Conn., will receive $150,000 from four defendants involved in the lawsuit, according to one of the defendant’s attorneys.

The two plaintiffs, both 17 at the time, were seriously injured in a car accident in South Bristol after attending a drinking party held by a 20-year-old instructor at the Christmas Cove Improvement Association, a recreational club.

Both plaintiffs filed separate lawsuits, which later were consolidated by the court. The complicated case was expected to go to trial next month.

Attorney Phillip Johnson of Augusta, representing Tennille, said Tuesday that “it was a very satisfactory settlement which compensated her for medical bills, scarring, permanent impairment and pain and suffering.”

Mardoian’s attorney, Herbert H. Sawyer of Portland, also said, “In view of the circumstances, it was deemed to be a satisfactory settlement” by his client.

The vehicle involved in the accident was driven by another 17-year-old youth, Christopher Foster of Bronxville, N.Y., who was named as a defendant in the case and pleaded guilty to OUI in October 1987. Foster is paying $120,000 to each of the plaintiffs, said his attorney, Michael LaTorre of Lewiston.

The settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing, said LaTorre. He said the settlement was reached for “practical reasons,” later adding that there were issues of comparative negligence involved in the case.

The attorney commented that it was his personal opinion that “nobody who was involved in the situation was totally without fault.”

The other defendants named in the case were the Christmas Cove Improvement Association, Farrin’s Lobster Pound Ltd. of South Bristol, and Albert and Nancy Thorpe of Port Charlotte, Fla., owners of Topo’s Market in South Bristol.

The plaintiffs claimed that Farrin’s sold a keg of beer to the CCIA instructor, Katharine Walker, who served it at the drinking party. Foster allegedly consumed some of the beer. The plaintiffs also claimed that the market sold beer to Foster.

Claims against a fifth defendant, Richard Hennessey of Massachusetts, owner of the vehicle, were dismissed.

Walker, who was a tennis instructor with the association, was convicted of furnishing liquor to a minor in March 1988 and was given a 20-day suspended sentence, said LaTorre.