Survivors of devastating landslide which killed 43 and wiped out a village reach a $50m settlement with Washington State

  •  Landslide on March 22, 2014 destroyed community of Steelhead Haven 
  •  The disaster, after weeks of heavy rain, has led to years of litigation
  •  Washington state has settled but the county and logging firm have not 

By Associated Press and Chris Summers For Mailonline

Published: 00:14 EST, 10 October 2016 | Updated: 10:05 EST, 10 October 2016

Attorneys representing the survivors and relatives of 43 people who died in a massive 2014 landslide north of Seattle have reached an agreement over a $50million settlement with the state of Washington.

The deal was agreed last night, on the eve of a trial, although it has not been confirmed yet by Washington state's Attorney General's Office.

On March 22, 2014 a devastating landslide wiped out the village of Steelhead Haven, four miles east of Oso in Snohomish County, killing 43 people and injuring many more.

Rescue workers remove a body from the wreckage of a home destroyed by a mudslide near Oso, Washington in March 2014

Rescue workers remove a body from the wreckage of a home destroyed by a mudslide near Oso, Washington in March 2014

The plaintiffs pointing the finger of blame at the state, Snohomish County and a logging company after the hillside collapsed, crushing dozens of homes.

The Seattle Times said the deal still has to be approved by Judge Roger Rogoff, who has presided over the litigation.

The victims' attorneys said they would continue to press their claims against Snohomish County and the logging company and a trial is still due to kick off today with them as the only defendants.

An entire chunk of hillside slewed off, ploughed through the Stillaguamish River and plunged into the community of Steelhead Haven, killed 43 people

An entire chunk of hillside slewed off, ploughed through the Stillaguamish River and plunged into the community of Steelhead Haven, killed 43 people

Steelhead Haven was a community of 35 family homes, some dating to the 1960s, which had been carved out of a hillside in the Cascade Mountains.

The Stillaguamish River eroded the base of the hill, as it had been doing for decades, causing numerous smaller slides. 

But, after weeks of heavy rain, in March 2014 enough sand and soil to cover 600 football fields swept down the hillside burying everything in its path, including a highway which was buried under 20 feet of dirt.

A five-month-old baby, Duke Suddarth, escaped death when a Good Samaritan, Kody Wesson. plucked him from the debris as his mother, Amanda Skorjanc, lay helpless nearby with two injured legs after their home was carried 600 feet by the landslide.

Ms Skorjanc is believed to have been one of the complainants involved in the case. 

This astonishing photograph shows the scale of the disaster. Some critics said the community should never have been built in such a landslide-prone position

This astonishing photograph shows the scale of the disaster. Some critics said the community should never have been built in such a landslide-prone position

After the landslide the state imposed new rules on logging in landslide-prone areas.  

Last week Judge Rogoff ordered the Washington Attorney General's Office to hand over emails which might help explain when state lawyers handling the landslide liability case realized their expert witnesses were improperly deleting emails.

Judge Rogoff said he was considering punishing the state for allowing the destruction of potential evidence in the case.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson has already acknowledged one of his lawyers knew for the past 18 months that experts hired by the state to determine the cause of the 2014 slide were deleting emails among themselves. 

Steve Skaglund walks across the rubble on the east side of the fatal mudslide near Oso, Washington in March 2014

Steve Skaglund walks across the rubble on the east side of the fatal mudslide near Oso, Washington in March 2014

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