The members of the Owen family that survived a tree fall incident in December 2012, will receive $10 million from the state of Washington.
Tim and Cheryl Owen of Bothell were killed in the crash and the Owen’s three kids Jaime, Jeremy and Jessica survived the incident, but they still deal with medical issues today. Jessie Owen is paralyzed and Jaime Mayer walks with a cane. Jeremy Owen had only minor injuries. Steven Mayer, the Owen’s son in law, was also in the car. He now uses a forearm arm crutch every single day. Their medical bills have been in the millions.
The family was headed to Leavenworth when the tree hit their truck. The family believes that unusual weather in the area should have closed the road. That day there were freezing temperatures and an unusually heavy amount of snowfall on the trees.
The family’s attorney said that just three days prior Chelan County issued a Declaration of Emergency as they were taking extra precautions to ensure public safety. It was at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 21, 2012 when a 125-foot-tall tree fell on the family.
“They were driving through a potential war zone and had no idea that a bomb was going to fall,” said Karen Koehler, attorney.
The Department of Transportation accepted partial responsibility for the deaths in the incident, but the family praised the state for how they dealt with the claim. The DOT released a statement on Sept. 5.
“This was a tragic and serious incident for the members of the Owen family and our thoughts remain with them,” the DOT said in a public statement. “The state has entered into a negotiated settlement with the Owen family. The settlement will be funded from the state’s self-insured liability account.”
Koehler acknowledged that in the Northwest trees could fall on the roadway at any point, but on the day of the incident she believes this crash could have been prevented had the state taken appropriate action when it came to the closure of the road.
State Patrol spokesman Bob Calkins said Friday in a statement that in the Owen crash case, the state believed it had a solid argument for not being held liable. But he said, because juries can be unpredictable, the state decided to protect itself from paying even more than $10 million by settling with the survivors.
The family in the second Highway 2 crash has not filed claims against the state.
State Patrol and WSDOT declined to comment on whether any policies or staffing have changed in response to the accidents.
“We appreciate the collaborative manner in which they worked to resolve this case,” Calkins said of the survivors. “We’ve gotten to know the Owen family during the mediation and have the greatest respect for how they’ve handled this tragedy.”
Jessica, Steven and Jaime all spent at least half a year in either hospitals or nursing homes as they underwent a series of surgeries intended to rebuild and strengthen shattered bones and joints. Jessica and Steven likely have several more surgeries ahead, Koehler said.
All three are adjusting to new lifestyles. Steven is working at Microsoft again. Jaime has returned to law school at Seattle University. Jeremy is beginning his senior year at Eastern Washington University.
Jessica, who once organized her own running group, is living with a friend in Seattle and continuing a rigorous physical-therapy schedule. Despite doctors telling her at first that she would never walk again, she’s trained herself to walk with forearm crutches for short periods. She still mostly uses a motorized wheelchair decked out in her favorite color, hot pink, and Washington State University Cougar flags.
All four said the settlement allows them to move on with their lives so they can dwell on the accident as little as possible from now on.
“It’s not better. It’s not worse,” Jessica said. “But it’s nice to have some finality and closure now.”
