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Family to receive $76,781 in lawsuit from 2007 fatal wreck

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BLOOMINGTON - A wrongful-death lawsuit stemming from an accident that killed one man and seriously injured a woman has been settled. The mother and six siblings of Dejuan Lockwood will divide $76,781, according to an agreement approved Monday in McLean County Circuit Court.

Lockwood, 25, was a passenger in a car driven by Octavius Johnson when Johnson's car collided with a vehicle driven by Ryan Arnold, 21, of Normal. The March 10, 2007, collision took place at Veterans Parkway and East Empire Street.

Johnson, 26, is serving 10 years for aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol in connection with the accident that, according to police, took place after Johnson was racing with a second driver, Cortney Shipp.

Lockwood's mother, Margaret Sims will receive $64,781 and each sibling will be paid $2,000, according to the terms of the agreement. Before $38,666 in attorney fees and $552 in court costs, the settlement totaled $116,000, with $100,000 coming from Arnold and $16,000 from Johnson, according to court records.

Lockwood's family filed the lawsuit in March 2008 against Johnson, Arnold, Fat Jacks and Shipp. Fat Jacks allegedly served alcohol to Johnson and Shipp.

Fat Jacks and Shipp are not listed in the settlement agreement as having to pay any damages.

Another passenger in Johnson's car, Ashanti Hubbard, was seriously injured in the crash. A separate settlement is pending in a lawsuit filed by Hubbard against the same four defendants.

At Johnson's trial in November 2007, Shipp testified that she and Johnson were racing and cutting each other off as the two drove east on Empire. Johnson's car collided with Arnold's northbound car at Veterans Parkway.

Fat Jacks was named in the lawsuit under the state's dram shop law that relates to the sale of alcohol. The bar was accused of selling alcohol to Johnson, Shipp and Arnold that contributed to the fatal collision.

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