Ward family closes in on settlement with Stewart
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- Mourners arrive for the calling hours for 20-year-old Kevin Ward Jr., who died as the result of a racetrack incident on Aug. 9, 2014. Visitors to the calling hours were asked to wear either orange or the above pictured Kevin Ward Racing T-shirts in his memory. (Photo — Johnson Newspapers)
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- Trying to keep the floral arrangements tidy in the strong winds during the Kevin J. Ward memorial service at South Lewis School in 2014. (Photo — Watertown Daily Times)
Mourners arrive for the calling hours for 20-year-old Kevin Ward Jr., who died as the result of a racetrack incident on Aug. 9, 2014. Visitors to the calling hours were asked to wear either orange or the above pictured Kevin Ward Racing T-shirts in his memory. (Photo — Johnson Newspapers)
PORT LEYDEN — A settlement has apparently been reached in a federal lawsuit brought by a Port Leyden family against NASCAR driver Tony Stewart over the death of their son Kevin Ward Jr. during an August 2014 race.
Kevin A. Ward Sr. and Pamela Ward sued Stewart in U.S. District Court, Utica, claiming, among other things, that he acted recklessly when he struck and killed Kevin Ward Jr. during an Aug. 9, 2014, race at Canandaigua Motorsports Park in Ontario County.
Kevin Ward Jr. had exited his vehicle under a yellow caution flag and appeared to be yelling in the direction of Stewart’s car moments before he was struck.
According to documents filed Monday in federal court, Judge David N. Hurd has ordered a settlement hearing for April 12 in Utica. Documents state the purpose of the hearing is to “place the terms and conditions of the settlement on the record.”
Further information about the terms of the proposed settlement were not available. If a settlement is reached, it would cancel a trial set to begin May 7.
Trying to keep the floral arrangements tidy in the strong winds during the Kevin J. Ward memorial service at South Lewis School in 2014. (Photo — Watertown Daily Times)
Several previous discussions to settle the case without need of a trial had been unsuccessful.
In December, Judge Hurd had denied a motion brought by Stewart to dismiss significant portions of the case.
According to the judge’s decision at the time, “there are genuine factual disputes over whether, and to what extent, (Stewart’s) conduct during the caution period of the race may have unreasonably increased the risk that Ward Jr. assumed.”
The judge had earlier cited a deposition provided by another driver in the race, Jessica Zemken-Friesen, in which she said she observed Stewart turn the front wheels of his car to the right and “hit the throttle” as he approached Kevin Ward Jr.’s position on the track prior to the collision.
Judge Hurd wrote that Stewart had stated in a deposition that his maneuver was not malicious, but rather a “last-ditch attempt to avoid disaster in the split second that he realized a person was standing in his path on the racetrack.”
The judge determined that, owing to the dispute of the facts, it should be left to a jury to decide whether Kevin Ward Jr. assumed an unnecessary risk by walking onto the track while the race was under “caution,” or whether Stewart responded unreasonably to Ward’s presence on the track.
