Bus crash victim awarded $7M

LOUISVILLE, Ky., Dec. 4 (UPI) -- A Kentucky man who sustained permanent brain injuries when hit by a bus two years ago will receive about $7 million in an out-of-court settlement.

The Louisville metropolitan bus service reached the settlement Friday with attorneys for Kevin Hable, himself a prominent lawyer, The Courier-Journal reported Monday.

Hable, a former cabinet secretary to former Gov. Brereton Jones and managing partner at the law firm Wyatt Tarrant & Combs, was forced into early retirement because of his injuries, the newspaper said.

In his lawsuit, he alleged the bus service was negligent in hiring driver Terra Walter in 2002 out of a drug-treatment program and then retaining her after she tested positive for cocaine the following year.

A police investigation showed Walter disregarded a stop sign and ran into the side of Hable's sports utility vehicle.