Paul Walker's Daughter Wins $10.1m Settlement

Paul Walker's Daughter Wins $10.1m Settlement

The teenage daughter of Fast & Furious actor Paul Walker has been awarded a $10.1m (£7.15m) settlement from the estate of the man who was behind the wheel of the Porsche in which both men died.

Walker was a passenger in the Porsche Carrera GT driven by his friend Roger Rodas when the vehicle, travelling between 80-93mph, crashed into trees and burst into flames in Santa Clarita, northwest of Los Angeles, in November 2013.

Meadow Walker's attorney, Jeff Milam, said in a statement that the settlement would go into a trust for the 17-year-old.

"The amount paid by the estate of Roger Rodas into a trust for Meadow Walker only covers a fraction of what her father would have earned as an international movie star had his life not tragically been cut short," Mr Milam said.

According to Mr Milam's statement, Mr Rodas was only partially responsible for the crash.

Lawyers for Mr Rodas' estate could not immediately be reached for comment.

The settlement was reached in November 2014 but remained undisclosed until now.

Mr Milam said his client was continuing her lawsuit against Porsche AG and that she "intends to hold the company responsible for producing a vehicle that was defective and caused Paul Walker's death".

Meadow, the actor's only child and sole heir, filed the complaint against the German carmaker last September, accusing it of skimping on safety features that could have prevented the crash or at least kept him alive.

Porsche has maintained that the actor was responsible for his own death.

After a four-month investigation, Los Angeles officials said the crash was caused by excessive speed, not mechanical failure.

Mr Milam said Walker survived the impact of the crash, but "burned to death because of Porsche's defective design".

A federal judge presiding over a similar lawsuit filed by Mr Rodas' estate against Porsche ruled in favour of the car company on Monday, saying: "The plaintiff has provided no competent evidence that Rodas' death occurred as a result of any wrongdoing on the part of defendant."

Walker's death at the age of 40 led to a lull in production of the seventh episode of the Fast & Furious franchise - the action series about illegal street racing that propelled his career.

The 2015 film grossed more than $1.5bn (£1bn) worldwide, making it among the highest-earning films of all time.