THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 27, 1995 TAG: 9512270073
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
Relatives of two people killed in January when a drunken driver led police on a 15-mile chase from Virginia Beach, then crashed his van into a passing car downtown, will get $3.4 million.
The out-of-court settlement was reached Thursday against the drunken driver, Arnold O. Peterson, a 48-year-old salesman, and his company, Nansemond Heating and Cooling of Suffolk, which owned the van.
Peterson killed a Richmond lawyer and his fiancee on Jan. 21 when he led police on a high-speed chase down the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway, Interstate 264 and downtown streets, plowing his van into a car after speeding through a red light.
The $3.4 million settlement is the maximum that could have been paid by the insurance companies. A judge is expected to approve the settlement Tuesday in Circuit Court.
A jury trial was scheduled to start Jan. 4.
The money will be split between the families of the two victims: William L. Rosbe, 48, who headed the environmental law section of Hunton & Williams, one of Richmond's biggest law firms; and Teresa G. Timms, 40, of Virginia Beach, former owner of Guille Steel.
The crash orphaned Timms' three children, now ages 8, 10 and 11. Their father had died of cancer a year earlier. Rosbe was survived by an adult daughter, now 22.
Lawyers for both families played down the size of the settlement Tuesday.
``Three-point-four million dollars is a lot of money,'' said Thomas B. Shuttleworth, the Timms' attorney, ``but it's not enough for the death of two people when you consider those kids don't have a mother or father.''
The Rosbes' attorney, Richard S. Glasser, agreed. ``I don't see it as a large settlement,'' Glasser said. ``While I am pleased that we have recovered the maximum that is available . . . you have to remember the damages here. There were maximum damages. They could not have picked more prominent victims and more innocent victims.''
The settlement ends these two lawsuits, but it may not close the matter entirely.
Shuttleworth said he probably will sue police in January for allegedly contributing to the crash by pursuing Peterson at high speeds off the highway and onto downtown city streets.
Glasser said he has not decided whether to sue police.
The fatal chase began late at night on Jan. 21 when police tried to stop Peterson on International Parkway, near Lynnhaven Mall, for speeding. Peterson, who had been drinking heavily that night, had a record of drunken driving that dated to the 1970s. After seeing the police that night, he fled up Lynnhaven Parkway to the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway.
Peterson led officers from Virginia Beach, Norfolk and the State Police on a chase along the highway, then onto Brambleton Avenue, at speeds of up to 80 mph. At Brambleton and Duke Street, Peterson's van ran into a car driven by Rosbe. Peterson was not seriously hurt; Rosbe and Timms were killed instantly.
Later, Peterson said he panicked because he was afraid of the police. ``I was not in a rational state of mind,'' he told a judge in September.
The judge sentenced Peterson to 20 years in prison - the stiffest drunken-driving sentence that Norfolk prosecutors could recall.
In the civil lawsuit, an important issue was whether Peterson had permission to drive the van. It was owned by his employer, Nansemond Heating and Cooling, which had $3 million in insurance on it.
In a four-day trial this month, the company said Peterson, the company's salesman of the year for 1994, did not have permission to drive the van. But lawyers for the victims' families said that he did and that Nansemond should be forced to pay. ``Hold them responsible for what they've insured,'' argued William H. Monroe Jr., another lawyer for the Rosbe family.
After 20 minutes of deliberation, the jury found that Peterson had permission to drive the van and that Nansemond's insurance covered him at the time of the crash.
That meant the victims were potentially eligible to collect $3 million from the company's insurance, plus $200,000 from Peterson's personal insurance, plus $200,000 from Peterson's mother's insurance because Peterson was living with her at the time.
The insurance company agreed to the maximum settlement ``because Peterson's liability was clear,'' said the company's attorney, Alan B. Rashkind. Peterson's employer still claims it was not liable for the crash, Rashkind said. ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo courtesy Rosbe family
William L. Rosbe and Teresa G. Timms died Jan. 21.
Color photo
ARNOLD O. PETERSON
The 48-year-old Peterson was driving drunk when he led police on a
high-speed chase from Virginia Beach to downtown Norfolk, through a
red light and into a car. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in
September.
KEYWORDS: DRUNKEN DRIVING ACCIDENT TRAFFIC FATALITIES
LAWSUIT SETTLEMENT by CNB