The family of a North Texas teenager who killed four people in a drunken-driving wreck has agreed to pay more than $2 million to the family of a boy who was paralyzed in the accident, according to court documents detailing the first approved settlement in the case, MyFoxDFW.com.
The liability insurer of Ethan Couch's parents agreed to pay more than $1 million in cash and the rest in annuities to a trust established for Sergio E. Molina, who was among 12 people injured in the wreck last year near Fort Worth.
Couch's case drew national attention after his attorneys argued that his wealthy parents coddled the then-16-year-old into a sense of irresponsibility, which one witness termed "affluenza." He was sentenced to 10 years of probation and ordered to a rehab facility.
Molina, who was riding in the back of Couch's pickup when it flipped on June 15, 2013, can now only smile and blink, according to his parents. He has been in the hospital since the June accident.
Molina was a standout soccer player at Central High School in Keller. He had ambitions of playing in Barcelona, Spain.
His older brother, Alexander Lemus, said his family was disappointed in the settlement.
"We're not happy about it, but we just have to take what we got and strive for better days," he said.
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