Estate of Woodland man who died from fallen tree settles with WA

The estate of a Woodland man who died in 2022 after a tree fell on his truck on Lewis River Road has settled a wrongful death suit with Washington state.

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The estate of Edward Norton, Washington state and the Washington Department of Transportation reached a $350,000 settlement, according to Cowlitz County Superior Court records.

The plaintiff sued the state and the Washington Department of Transportation in 2023 for negligence, alleging that the state owned the land where the tree was located and knew the area was unstable.

Court records show that a certificate of finality was issued last week, but the parties reached the agreement around March 12, according to records.

The wrongful death suit was filed in June 2023 following the death of the 53-year-old.

Authorities say he was killed when a tree fell on his Ford F-250 truck as he was driving near milepost 49 on State Route 503, also known as Lewis River Road, in the early hours of April 13, 2022, near the Lewis River Golf Course.

Washington State Patrol previously told The Daily News the accident occurred around 6:30 a.m., when one tree fell onto another, creating a domino effect until a tree crushed Norton's truck.

Before the accident, several trees were uprooted or fell due to the slope's instability, the lawsuit alleges, indicating that the state and the Washington State Department of Transportation were aware of the hazards near the accident site.

The plaintiff was represented by Ashton Dennis, an attorney with the Washington Law Center in Tacoma, while Elizabeth Ann McIntyre, of Law, Lyman, Daniel, Kamerrer & Bogdanovich in Olympia, represented the defendants.

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