We don’t know just how much it will cost the City of Cornelia’s insurance company yet but, according to court documents, the family of Bounkham Phonesavanh has dismissed the lawsuit against the city after reaching a settlement this week.
Phonesavanh, now two years old, is still recovering from burns and lacerations to his face and chest suffered when a flash grenade was thrown into a house on Lakeview Heights Circle in Cornelia last year. Officers from a regional drug task force were executing a no-knock search warrant at the time.
In February, Phonesavanh’s parents filed suit against the City of Cornelia and all the other local governments involved in the Regional Narcotics Investigation and Suppression team.
In a motion filed this week, the Phonesavanh’s attorney, Richard Hendrix, asked that Judge Robert Story dismiss the lawsuit against the City of Cornelia and the city’s insurer because “…an amicable settlement and compromise has been reached relative to the underlying dispute involved in this case, the case can now be dismissed with prejudice.”
Matching requests for dismissal were entered by the Georgia Interlocal Risk Management Agency (GIRMA) which is the city of Cornelia’s liability insurer and the city’s attorney Steve Campbell.
The clerk at the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia marked the case “Terminated” on Thursday afternoon.
As part of the settlement the Phonesavanh’s attorney also made a motion to remove Cornelia Police officer Paul Cheseboro and Assistant Chief Jonathan Roberts from a separate civil rights lawsuit stemming from the same May 2014 raid.
According to that document the other defendants, including Habersham Sheriff Joey Terrell, remain targets of the Phonesavanh’s civil rights suit.
The details and total amounts of the settlement with Cornelia have yet to be released but Now Habersham has learned that it includes a “stipulation that a trust will be created with a corporate fiduciary at a bank for the benefit of the minor child.”
That’s similar to the terms of the deal the Phonesavanhs struck with Habersham County’s insurance company in April. That agreement included a $964,000 settlement and a provision setting aside $200,000 in an annuity for Bounkham to be paid out directly to him in a series of 3 lump sum payments starting when he reaches age 18. The total value of those payments as scheduled would be $457,876 paid out over 15 years beginning in 2033.
An emailed request for comment from Cornelia City Attorney Steve Campbell was unanswered at the time of publication. We will bring you further details including how much GIRMA will have to pay the Phonesavanhs as soon as that information becomes available.
