Failing economy slows settlement from 2007 crash

$146,000 due from September agreement

Friday, Feb. 27, 2009

Stuck upstream of the recession's economic logjam is the final payment on what may be one of the largest settlements from a car-accident lawsuit in Southern Maryland history.

A former school principal has been given more time to pay the balance of a $1.25 million settlement to a disabled hair stylist, after the defendant's lawyers argued that an auction of his property would be ill-timed as it presently has lost almost all of its value.

Charles E. Abell Jr., 82, of Leonardtown and his insurance company already had paid more than $1.1 million by the end of last month, court papers state, and a judge granted him another four months to pay the remaining $146,000 due to 24-year-old Andrea L. Hopkins, also of Leonardtown.

"The court acknowledges that Mr. Abell was impeded in his efforts to make full payment by the extremely uncertain financial times we find ourselves in today," St. Mary's Circuit Judge Karen H. Abrams wrote last month, "and that he has made good faith efforts to comply with this agreement."

Hopkins was driving north on Route 5 in Leonardtown on April 3, 2007, when Abell's southbound vehicle crossed the highway's centerline, resulting in a head-on collision, Waldorf lawyer James Farmer wrote in a civil complaint filed later that year.

Hopkins was hospitalized in Baltimore, where a rod was inserted into her broken left leg, and she received further treatment at another hospital for a closed head injury, facial fractures and a broken jaw, a doctor wrote in an evaluation last year of her condition. She also underwent additional surgery for a shoulder injury.

The Chopticon High School graduate had become a licensed hair stylist in 2003, the doctor wrote, and she was "extremely active" in sports and at a gym until the accident, which left her unable to continue her work and unable to drive a vehicle with a standard transmission. She told the doctor last year that she spent her days getting her son off to school and caring for him in the evening, but that she also was interested in training for a new job in communications work.

Abell initially denied liability in the matter, but later withdrew his denial of responsibility and indicated an intent to contest the causation of Hopkins' injuries if the case went to trial.

Instead, the settlement agreement was presented last September in court, and a transcript states that Farmer told the judge that an insurance company had paid the first $480,000 to resolve the matter.

In December, Abell's lawyers A. Shane Mattingly and Herbert R. O'Conor III wrote that their client had pursued paying the complete balance with the help of his family and friends, including a "substantial payment" later that month.

"Defendant Abell has been a good citizen and a man of his word for his entire adulthood," the lawyers wrote. "Mr. Abell has served as principal of several public schools, and a leader of several charitable and community organizations."

The lawyers added, "Markets around the world are grappling with a deepening financial crisis. We are in the midst of the most uncertain financial times in 70 years. These factors have made it nearly impossible for [the] defendant to be able to comply with the settlement agreement."

The lawyers asked the judge not to grant a requested order to enforce the settlement agreement or an order of default against their client. "If a judgment is entered" against Abell, his lawyers wrote, the "plaintiff's efforts to auction his property in the winter would bring catastrophic results. Such an auction may bring few if any bidders. The property would be purchased for less than 10 percent of its value."

jwharton@somdnews.com