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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Office of the Indiana Attorney General, at the request of attorneys representing claimants in lawsuits stemming from the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair in August 2011, has moved the deadline to respond to a settlement offer to Aug. 1. The original deadline was Friday.
The deadline was extended to give claimants time to get more information on the additional $7.2 million added to the previous $6 million supplement the state is offering. The AG’s office announced the combined public-private $13.2 million settlement offer last month after Mid-America Sound and James Thomas Engineering offered the additional funds following mediation.
This money is on top of the $5 million the state has provided under the tort claim cap.
“This settlement offer is structured to put victims first by offering them more than double the original state funds on an accelerated basis. The additional time requested by the claimants to consider the settlement offer is appropriate in this circumstance,” Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said in a statement.
The money offered by the two companies was with the condition that the claimants release them from liability. Mid-America Sound and James Thomas Engineering are defendants in some lawsuits filed by claimants. Their offer is contingent on a sufficient number of claimants agreeing to the private settlement by Aug. 1, according to the AG’s office. The companies then have until Aug. 15 to decide if conditions are met in order to proceed with their offer.
Claimants have to sign an agreement releasing the state and the two companies from any claim of indemnification or liability in order to be able to accept their portion of the $13.2 million.
Claimants with questions about the settlement should contact their attorneys or the Indiana attorney general’s office at [email protected].
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