The 17-year-old daughter of actor Paul Walker won a $10.1 million settlement from the estate of Roger Rodas, the man who was behind the wheel of a Porsche Carrrera GT when it crashed in late 2013, killing both men. While the settlement was finalized in 2014, details remained private until early April 2015.
Walker and Rodas died in the fiery car crash in California three years ago after hitting a concrete beam and several trees. According to police reports and a later inquiry, speed and the car's seldom-used tires were found to be the primary factors in the fatal crash. However, the recent settlement found that Rodas' driving was also partially responsible for the crash.
Walker's lawyer told USA Today that the money from the settlement has been placed in a trust for Meadow Walker, but that it only covers "a fraction of what her father would have earned had his life not been tragically cut short." According to details from the settlement obtained by TMZ, the actor was expected to earn between $30 million and $80 million from future Fast & Furious films plus other projects.
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Walker has also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Porsche AG in order to hold the company responsible for producing an unsafe and defective vehicle that caused the death of her father and her father's friend. Specifically, she asserts that Porsche continued to produce a vehicle that had known stability control issues and a defective seatbelt.
However, according to People, two months after Walker filed the lawsuit, Porsche spoke out, noting the actor was responsible for his own death by voluntarily assuming "all risk, perils, and dangers in respect to the use of the subject 2005 Carrera GT, that the perils, risks, and dangers were open and obvious and known to him, and that he chose to conduct himself in a manner as to expose himself to such perils, dangers, and risks." Porsche also noted that the vehicle in question was misused and improperly maintained.
Walker will face a hard road ahead against the car company, particularly as Rodas' widow, Kristine, filed – and lost – a similar case against Porsche after the accident. Specifically, a judge dismissed Rodas' widows case against Porsche that claimed the accident was the result of a suspension failure and the lack of safety features on her husband's vehicle. According to documents obtained by USA Today, the judge noted that Rodas "provided no competent evidence" that her husband's death "occurred as a result of any wrongdoing" on the part of the car company.
