Attorneys: Katie Flynn's Family Settles Suit

An attorney for the family of Katie Flynn, the 7-year-old Lido Beach girl who was killed in a drunken driving crash in 2005, announced Wednesday that he had reached a settlement in a lawsuit against Martin Heidgen, the convicted driver, and the limousine company, U.S. Limousine Service, in which the girl and her family were riding in.

Katie and her parents, Neil and Jennifer Flynn, and her grandparents, Christopher and Denise Tangney of Long Beach — who were all in the limousine at the time of the crash and who sued Heidgen and the Mineola-based limousine company for damages in State Supreme Court in Mineola — settled for a reported $1.3 million, according to Newsday. 

Christopher McGrath, the family’s attorney from Garden City, said:

"There is no way that any lawyer could ever compensate this family for all they went through.”

In October 2006, after a five-week trial, Heidgen was convicted of second-degree murder and driving drunk in a pickup truck traveling in the wrong direction on the Meadowbrook Parkway on July 2, 2005. His vehicle slammed into the limousine that was carrying Katie, her family and driver Stanley Rabinowitz, 59, of Farmingdale, who was also killed in the crash. They were heading home from a wedding in which Katie was the flower girl.

Police said Heidgen's blood-alcohol content registered .28 percent, well above the legal limit of .08 percent. He is serving a prison sentence of 18 years to life for the crime.

* This story was update at 9:54 on 1.20.12.