BP pact calls for $32 million for colleges, hospitals Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "Daughter settles with BP in parents' death
Just days before trial, she accepts private sum, plus $32 million for hospitals, schools

By BRAD HEM
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
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BP settles with fired refinery workers
BP settles lawsuit in deadly 2005 blast GALVESTON — The daughter of two people killed in the 2005 explosion at BP's Texas City refinery settled her case against the company Thursday, and as part of the settlement, BP agreed to donate more than $32 million to hospitals and schools.
The lawsuit would have been the first related to the blast to go to trial.
With this agreement, London-based BP has settled with the families of all 15 killed in the March 23, 2005, explosion. Injury suits still remain, with some scheduled for trial in February.
Lawyers for Eva Rowe and BP worked out the settlement on the same day they were scheduled to pick a jury for the trial that would have started Monday.
The financial terms for Rowe, 22, were kept private Thursday, but some previous settlements for deaths at Texas City reportedly have been in the tens of millions of dollars.
Rowe, who is from Hornbeck, La., vowed to use some of her settlement money to crusade for workplace safety nationwide.
'I know that would make my parents proud,' she said. 'I'm going to do everything that I can.'
Under the settlement, BP will donate at least $32 million to various colleges and hospitals in Texas, Tennessee and Louisiana.
'Eva Rowe today is making peace with BP,' her Beaumont attorney Brent Coon said. 'Eva did not want her parents to die in vain. They were su"