PALM COAST -- A wrongful death lawsuit against the Flagler County School Board member's wife whose car officials say struck and killed a Palm Coast woman has been settled for $1.25 million -- less than two weeks after it was filed, an attorney said Wednesday.
Jamesine "Jamie" Fischer, 55, whose husband is School Board member John Fischer, was driving her Chrysler PT Cruiser about 6 p.m. Nov. 10 when it struck 76-year-old Francoise Pecqueur as she walked her dog in Palm Coast, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Pecqueur died two days later at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach.
Pecqueur's daughter, Catherine Vyvyan, filed the wrongful death lawsuit against Jamesine Fischer on Jan. 27 in Flagler County Circuit Court. Fischer's insurance company, State Farm, settled the case for the policy limits, said attorney Allan Ziffra, who represents Vyvyan.
"I would say due to the egregious nature of Ms. Fischer's conduct that that prompted State Farm to settle the matter sooner rather than later," Ziffra said.
The Florida Highway Patrol is continuing its investigation into the accident and no charges have been filed against Jamesine Fischer.
The Fischers and their attorney, Steve Alexander, could not be reached for comment.
Witnesses have stated that Jamesine Fischer said she did not call 9-1-1 after the accident and said Pecqueur had fallen. The Fischers did not report the accident until nearly 12 hours later.
"Our position is that (Jamesine) Fischer's conduct was beyond the boundaries of human decency and Catherine will pursue justice for the loss of her mother," Ziffra said.
The insurance limits were $250,000 on the vehicle with a $1 million umbrella policy, said Ziffra. The settlement was reached Monday, he said, although he did not make it public until Wednesday.
The settlement means Ziffra will not be able to question Jamesine Fischer as to what happened the night of the accident, but that would have been problematic if she eventually faces criminal charges.
"We will not be able to depose her," Ziffra said. "But with the pending criminal charges, she would have more than likely pleaded the Fifth Amendment and not answered any questions anyway."
Ziffra said Vyvyan declined comment and wanted to put this part of the case behind her.
Ziffra said the lawsuit was not about money.
"No amount of money could have made up for Francoise Pecqueur's death," Ziffra said.
Vyvyan's wrongful death lawsuit states Jamesine Fischer stepped out of her Chrysler PT Cruiser, walked over and looked at Pecqueur, "who was obviously severely injured, but was still breathing and alive."
Two witnesses have stated Jamesine Fischer remained at the scene along Columbia Lane near Colechester Lane but said only that Pecqueur had fallen. Neither of the witnesses actually saw the accident. One of those, Jules Prockter, drove up and saw Pecqueur sprawled in the swale.
Prockter said he asked Jamesine Fischer if she had called 9-1-1 and she said she had not, so he called.
Flagler Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Debra Johnson has said the agency did not send a deputy because dispatchers believed the situation was a medical call.
It would be nearly six hours before deputies were dispatched to the scene, after a call from Vyvyan.
And it would be nearly another six hours before the Fischers called the Sheriff's Office to report damage to Jamesine Fischer's car.
John Fischer also called Flagler County Sheriff Don Fleming, who is a personal friend. Fleming wrote in a Feb. 1 letter to The News-Journal's editor that he received a call on his home phone about 5:30 a.m. Nov. 11 from John Fischer, just before the Fischers reported the accident to law enforcement. Fischer said his wife had been involved in an accident and thought she had hit an animal, Fleming wrote.
"At that time, I told him to hang up and call the Emergency Operations Center dispatching center to report it," Fleming wrote in the letter.
While the FHP investigation is nearly three months long and counting, the civil lawsuit was quickly settled. But the speed of the settlement is not surprising, said Lee Coppock, a law professor at Stetson University College of Law. Settlement discussions often begin before lawsuits are even filed, he said.
"If there's some defense, these things tend to take a little bit longer and the settlement value tends to be a little less," Coppock said.
In this case, the settlement amount was higher than usual, Coppock said. He said settlements are based on three things and two of those are how clear the liability is and how much money is available.
"The third thing is how ugly it is," Coppock said. "In other words, is a jury likely to get real upset."
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