Attorneys for plaintiffs and defendants recently announced a $1 million wrongful death lawsuit settlement involving a motor vehicle accident that caused the death of a 19-year-old man far from Charlotte, North Carolina.

The Muskegon, Michigan, man was struck by a pick-up truck as he was putting a gas can into the trunk of his car. The pick-up driver was reportedly on his cell phone at the time of the collision.

The 19-year-old's car had run out of gas; he had just put more gas in and was returning the gas can to the trunk of his Ford Taurus when the pick-up slammed into him and threw him approximately 25 feet.

Attorneys for the family of the victim negotiated the settlement with representatives for the driver of the pick-up truck equipped with a snowplow and the landscaping company that owns the truck.

The amount was the maximum under the bodily injury insurance policy on the vehicle.

The driver, 33, pleaded no contest in December to a moving violation that caused the death. That misdemeanor conviction is punishable by up to a year in jail. He'll be sentenced next month.

The accident was at about 12:45 a.m. on a February night last year.

The driver acknowledged in court that he when he hit the 19-year-old, his truck was over the line on the side of the road marking the drivable portion of the street.

In the aftermath of the accident, police reported that the driver was talking on his phone when the collision took place.

The driver denied the claim, however.

The media report we read didn't note whether or not investigators had with certainty determined if he'd been on the phone.

Source: mlive.com: "$1 million settlement ends lawsuit over Corey McNett's death by snowplow accident," John S. Hausman, Jan. 24, 2012