From staff reports
A wrongful-death suit stemming from a traffic accident that claimed the life of a Plainview man in 1999 was settled Wednesday in Olmsted District Court.
The defendant in the case, James Robert Hart, agreed to pay $100,000 to Susan Tibor, the widow of Ronald Tibor. The settlement came on the day the trial in the case was scheduled to begin.
Ronald Tibor, 42, was killed in a single-vehicle accident on Olmsted County 10 in Dover Township the morning of Oct. 14, 1999. He was driving a tanker truck owned by High Plains Co-op. Tibor was passing a farm tractor, driven by Hart, which was pulling a chopper wagon when Tibor lost control of the truck on the shoulder and went into the ditch.
The civil suit claimed Hart operated his tractor and forage box combination in a negligent manner, causing the accident. Tibor was thrown from the vehicle and died at the scene.
