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Settlement in deadly Halloween hit and run

There’s a settlement tonight in a deadly hit and run that killed a Moline mom in front of her 7-year old son on Halloween. Aaron Goodwin is serving nine y...

There's a settlement tonight in a deadly hit and run that killed a Moline mom in front of her 7-year old son on Halloween.

Aaron Goodwin is serving nine years in prison for the drunk driving accident that killed Dawn Murillo, a mother of five children and expecting another baby.

This week, a Dram Shop lawsuit filed against two Moline bars that served Goodwin that day has been settled. Each will pay 30-thousand dollars to Murillo's survivors. A judge is expected to divide the settlement by the end of the week.

''The judge approved the settlement Monday, and will come out with a distribution order'', said Rock Island attorney Michael Warner, who filed the suit.

''In Illinois, if a tavern sells alcohol to someone and that person becomes intoxicated and then causes injury to another, then the tavern is liable'', Warner said.

Witnesses have said Goodwin had been out drinking on Halloween for close to nine hours. He had three prior DUI's.

The judgement was just $11,000 shy of a monetary cap under Illinois law. ""Under the Dram Shop Act, there is a limit on the recovery of $71,000'', Warner said.

Earlier this year, Goodwin's insurance company settled with survivors for $100,000 in a wrongful death suit filed last year.

''Money is not going to compensate this child for the loss of his mother, he lost his mother'', Warner said. 'Maybe you never know, maybe someone will learn from this''.

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