Associated Press: A&M Settles Bonfire lawsuit

As expected Texas A&M agreed to pay a $2.1 million settlement over the collapse of the '99 Bonfire.

Hopefully with the litigation now behind us, we can put Bonfire back where it belongs...on Campus.

This was a long time coming and our thoughts and prayers continue to be with those who lost their loved ones on 18-Nov-99.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M University agreed Tuesday to pay $2.1 million to settle a lawsuit over a bonfire collapse that killed 12 people and injured dozens more nearly a decade ago.

The families of four students killed and several of those who were injured sued the university and construction contractors hired to help build the 59-foot-tall tower of logs that collapsed in November 1999.

The administrators had fought the lawsuit, claiming they were immune from such suits, but a court of appeals allowed the lawsuit to continue, and the A&M Board of Regents authorized the settlement Monday.

The cases against the construction firm that provided a crane and the crane operators are still pending; the university is a third-party defendant in those cases.

Under the settlement reached Tuesday in Brazos County court, the university agreed to pay $2.1 million to the victims and their families and to have engineering oversight if the university decides to allow future bonfires on campus. University spokesman Jason Cook said the university will pay $500,000, with the remaining money coming from its insurers.

Calls to attorneys for the plaintiffs in the case were not immediately returned Tuesday.

Since the collapse, the university has prohibited students from building the bonfire on its property – a tradition for the Texas A&M-Texas football game going back to 1909. The fire has been held off-campus by students and alumni since the collapse.

A&M President Elsa Murano, who took over earlier this year, said in a statement that no decision would be made on whether to allow the bonfire back on campus until she has discussed the collapse with those most affected by it and reviewed the event's history.

“It is our hope that today's announcement will help provide some closure to the tragic event for these individuals, as well as for the entire Aggie family, and certainly including those who were injured,” she said.