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Anaheim : $4.8-Million Award Won by Boy Hit by Van

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An Anaheim boy who was run over by a van at an Anaheim swap meet more than four years ago has won a settlement that will pay him $4.84 million in his lifetime.

Enrique Rivera, who will be 6 years old next week, has recovered “remarkably well” from a skull fracture and a brain stem injury, but he will always have problems with such fine motor skills as buttoning his shirt, said his lawyer, Ramon Rossi Lopez of Newport Beach.

On Dec. 21, 1980, Enrique, then 19 months old, wandered away from his mother, Dolores Garcia, now 38, at a swap meet at the Anaheim Drive-In, which is run by California Theaters Inc. Against regulations, an uninsured driver was allowed to bring his van into the pedestrian area to pick up merchandise, Lopez said.

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The driver ran over the baby, the lawyer said, leaving Enrique with injuries that returned him almost to his infant state. The boy was forced to relearn everything, the lawyer said.

“He’s in a normal class now as far as age goes, but his injuries cause him to perform well at times and poorly at other times,” Lopez said. “He also has ‘drop’ attacks in which he falls for no apparent reason. The doctors think it may be seizure activity.”

Settlement of the suit, filed in August, 1981, was approved last Wednesday by Superior Court Judge Jerrold S. Oliver.

Under terms of the agreement with California Theaters, Garcia will receive $75,000 for emotional distress at seeing her child injured. Enrique will get a package of benefits that includes $200,000 in cash, payments of $1,200 a month until he turns 18, when the payments go to $2,500 a month for the rest of his life, and six periodic lump-sum payments totaling $400,000 over 32 years.

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