MILTON, Ga. — A metro Atlanta city has agreed to pay a $10 million settlement to the family of an Ivy League student killed in a 2016 crash.
The Milton City Council approved the settlement for Joshua Chang’s family on Monday. The city will split the payments with its insurer.
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The settlement ends a decade-long legal battle between the city and the Chang family.
Chang, a senior at Yale, died in a crash in Nov. 2016 when he was driving home during his Thanksgiving break. His family’s attorneys say he swerved off the road, likely to avoid hitting an animal, and crashed into a concrete decorative planter along Batesville Road.
A police report stated that Chang was going below the 45 mph speed limit at 38 mph. It also says that he was going just 19 mph when he hit the planter. He died at the scene.
The planter, which has been removed, was built decades ago before Milton was incorporated. City officials said it had never before been involved in an accident.
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The Chang family sued the city for wrongful death. In June 2023, a jury ruled in favor of the family and ordered Milton to pay $32.5 million in damages, saying the city was 93% at fault.
Milton officials appealed. The Georgia Court of Appeals later upheld the judgment. The damages were eventually settled at $10 million, according to council records released this week.
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