Both sides in a lawsuit over a Kansas Turnpike crash that killed three Girl Scouts — including the organization Girl Scouts of Northeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri, which is a defendant — ask that amounts be kept secret for a civil settlement agreement they’ve reached.

The confidential settlement has been agreed upon by those involved, said a motion filed April 17 in 2nd District Court in Pottawatomie County by attorney L.J. Leatherman, of Topeka’s Palmer Law Group.

The suit is linked to an October 2022 Turnpike crash in southwest Shawnee County that killed Laila El Azri and Kylie Lunn, both 9, and Brooklyn Peery, 8, as they rode in a van driven by Amber Peery, Brooklyn’s mother.

Amber Peery and her other two passengers — her daughter, Carrington Peery, then 5, and Gabriella Ponomarez, then 9, — suffered injuries but survived, the Kansas Highway Patrol said.

Leatherman — representing Kylie’s mother, plaintiff Tiffany Lunn — asked in his motion for the scheduling of a hearing at which a judge would approve the settlement agreement spelling out distribution of proceeds and attorney’s fees.

Attorney Emily Yessen, of Overland Park-based Harris & Hart, LLC, representing Amber Peery, acknowledged in an April 19 filing that an agreement was reached while saying Peery asks that it be approved and denies any negligence.

Yessen filed a notice May 7 saying 2nd District Chief Judge Jeff Elder will consider approving the agreement at 11 a.m. June 18. The 2nd District is based at Westmoreland and consists of Jackson, Jefferson, Wabaunsee and Pottawatomie counties. Court records indicated some of those involved were expected to participate by Zoom.

Leatherman’s April 17 petition gave updated full names for Laila as Laila El Azri Ennassari and Gabriella as Gabriella Casas.

How were the Girl Scouts involved in triple fatality accident?

Amber Peery’s five passengers were part of Topeka’s Daisy Troop 5567 and had been going to a Girl Scouting event in Tonganoxie.

The crash occurred on the Kansas Turnpike in southwest Shawnee County near an opening in a barrier wall between its northbound and southbound lanes, which is used to turn around by law enforcement officers, emergency workers and Kansas Turnpike Authority employees.

Amber Peery’s van was part of a caravan of three vehicles going to the Tonganoxie event, according to testimony given Nov. 30 at the preliminary hearing for a Shawnee County District Court criminal case in which Amber Peery faces charges that include three counts of involuntary manslaughter. Her trial in that case is to begin July 8.

Amelia Bailey testified Nov. 30 that Margaret Jones drove alone in the lead vehicle, Bailey followed with five Girl Scout passengers in her vehicle and Amber Peery drove at the rear as they entered the Kansas Turnpike going south at its South Topeka interchange.

But Jones pulled over and stopped on the right shoulder, Bailey stopped behind her, then Jones told Bailey by cellphone that they were going the wrong way and needed to turn around, Bailey testified. Meanwhile, she said, Peery passed them going south.

Bailey testified that she followed Jones, and both turned around and went north on the turnpike. They “must have” used a barrier wall, Bailey said. No off-ramps exist between the Turnpike’s South Topeka interchange and Admire interchange, 30 miles to the southwest.

Bailey said she then called Amber Peery and told her she needed to find a place to turn around.

Video shown at Amber Peery’s preliminary hearing showed she tried to make a U-turn from the right southbound lane through the southbound Turnpike’s left lane to go through a barrier wall opening.

Peery’s vehicle was then struck in its driver’s side rear quarter panel area by a semi-trailer driven by Robert Russell, 72, of Huntsville, Alabama, who was southbound in the left lane, a Kansas Highway Patrol accident report said.

Who are the plaintiffs and defendants in fatality crash?

Leatherman’s April 17 filing identified the defendants in the case as Bailey, Jones, Amber Peery and Girl Scouts of Northeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri.

It identified the plaintiffs as the following:

• Tiffany Lunn, mother of Kylie Lunn.

• Rida El Azri Ennassari, father of Laila El Azri Ennassari.

• Annika Casas and Ralph Casas, parents of Gabriella Casas.

• Andrew Peery, father of Brooklyn Peery and Carrington Peery.

Amber Peery filed last August for divorce from Andrew Peery, with a pretrial hearing in the case having been set for June 27, Shawnee County District Court records say.

Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Settlement reached in Turnpike crash that killed 3 Topeka Girl Scouts