LONDON — The family of Harry Dunn, a teen motorcyclist who died in an accident that became a high-level diplomatic dispute, reached a settlement in its U.S. civil suit against Anne Sacoolas, an American alleged to have been driving on the wrong side of the road in the East Midlands of England when she hit Dunn — and who subsequently claimed diplomatic immunity.
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A criminal case in Britain is still pending, a family spokesman said.
Last year, Dunn’s parents, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, launched a U.S. federal lawsuit claiming wrongful death and seeking financial damages from Sacoolas.
The family’s spokesman, Radd Seiger, told The Washington Post that civil claim for damages, filed in U.S. District Court in Virginia, had been “resolved.”
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“I can’t tell you any more. All I’m permitted to say is the civil case is resolved, and we can now turn to the criminal case,” he said.
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That case has been filed in the British court system. Sacoolas left Britain shortly after the accident, and the Dunn family wants her to return to face the charge of causing death by dangerous driving.
Britain’s new foreign secretary, Liz Truss, spoke about the case to reporters traveling with her and Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the United States this week.
Asked if this was the end of the legal fight, Truss said, “Absolutely not. We continue to press for justice for Harry.”
She said she had discussed the case with her U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
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The State Department has refused an extradition request by Britain — a decision the Biden administration said was “final.” But the previous foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, had suggested that perhaps “some kind of virtual trial or process could allow some accountability.”
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In the course of the U.S. civil lawsuit, Sacoolas’s lawyer told the court that his client was working for U.S. intelligence. She had previously been referred to as “the wife of a U.S. diplomat” and the assertion raised questions about her diplomatic immunity at the time of the fatal crash.
Jonathan Sacoolas, her husband, had been working for the U.S. government at a Royal Air Force base in Croughton, England. The base is known to be used by U.S. intelligence agencies.
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He was also named as a co-defendant in the U.S. civil suit. The Dunn family asserted that the Volvo SUV driven in the accident was owned by him.
Lawyers for the Sacoolases did not immediately respond when contacted by The Post on Tuesday.
Seiger called resolution of the civil suit a “pivot point in the campaign, a real milestone.”
“It’s never easy mounting a legal battle for justice abroad, let alone in the U.S.A., but the family’s courage and determination to see this through has been incredible,” he said.