Estate of late Steelers QB Dwayne Haskins settles lawsuit with several defendants
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The attorney representing the estate of late Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins said Friday a settlement has been reached with several parties named in a civil lawsuit that was filed in the wake of his death.
Haskins was killed in the early morning hours of April 9, 2022, when he was struck by a dump truck while walking on I-595 near Fort Lauderdale, Fla. When he was killed, Haskins was trying to get gas for a rental car that had stalled on the interstate.
Rick Ellsley, who represents Haskins’ widow, Kalabrya, said in a statement on his law firm’s website that the estate has reached a “combined settlement with the truck driver, truck owner and the truck broker.”
They are three of the 14 defendants named in a civil suit that was filed in March.
Ellsley said settlements with other parties previously had been secured. He also said the case will proceed to the Broward County Circuit Court against “multiple other defendants.”
No details of the settlements were released.
Ellsley’s firm filed a civil lawsuit March 23 contending that the dump truck driver did not exercise proper caution before Haskins was struck on the interstate near the Fort Lauderdale airport. The lawsuit listed the driver, the company that owned the 1994 Kenworth dump truck, four individuals, two restaurants, a golf driving range, a hotel and the Florida Department of Transportation as defendants. The lawsuit cited negligence, and Ellsley requested a jury trial.
Among the claims was that Haskins, 24, was “targeted and drugged” and the victim of a “blackmail and robbery conspiracy” before his death. Haskins was legally intoxicated when he died, according to the medical examiner’s report.
The lawsuit claimed that Haskins’ rental car, a 2020 Nissan Frontier, was “mechanically damaged,” which caused it to run out of gas along the interstate.
At the time of his death, Haskins had completed his first season with the Steelers and was preparing to compete for a quarterback spot in the wake of Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement. Haskins, a former first-round draft pick from Ohio State, was signed by the Steelers in January 2021 after he was released by Washington near the end of his second season with the franchise.
Haskins never appeared in a regular-season game with the Steelers.