Pre-trial settlement in the amount of $100k

In a proceeding that lasted only a few minutes, a judge this afternoon signed off on a settlement of an Oconee County civil case which centered on allegations that government and others failed to properly investigate a deadly child abuse incident.  Lawyer for the plaintiffs announced a settlement of $100 thousand dollars, the bulk of which is to be set aside for a young girl whose sister died at the hands of the man who was supposed to be caring for the girls as a sitter.  That individual, Matthew Chappell, was sentenced to 40 years in prison in 2019 after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter and guilty to great bodily injury to a child.  In the civil case which followed the criminal court plea the lawsuit, according to plaintiff’s lawyer Eve Schafer Goodstein, named child protection services, medical providers, and law enforcement as negligent in not taking steps that could have prevented what happened.  But a court filing last December revealed a notice of dismissal for three physicians who were named in the case. When the criminal charges reached the General Sessions Court now nearly three years ago, played out in that courtroom was one of the more horrific cases of child abuse in the county.