A Fulton County jury had already awarded a woman injured by a drunken driver $1.2 million and was considering how much to add in punitive damages when a settlement was struck to end the case for $1.3 million, according to plaintiff's lawyer Alan Hamilton.

That amount represented the insurance policy limit for the at-fault driver and was a satisfactory resolution for his client and a “young defendant facing the possibility of a seven-figure excess verdict,” said Hamilton, who tried the case with Shiver Hamilton associate Daniel Beer and originating attorney Quentin Spencer of Decatur.

Hamilton's client, Wanpenn Bangrukkit, suffered two fractured vertebrae and two herniated discs and other injuries, although she has so far elected not to have surgery to repair the discs, he said.