By Jim Hannah
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COVINGTON - A three-day trial ended in a secret settlement Friday evening between a local cab company and a woman raped by one of its drivers.

"It is safe to say the woman can live comfortably," said Covington attorney Paul Hill, co-counsel for the woman. "I can't say anything more."

The settlement was reached only after the Kenton County jury - which was in deliberations - came back with three questions. Attorneys on both sides declined to say what the questions were.

Hill and Andre Busald, the other attorney for the victim, had sought $11 million in damages from the taxi company, Community Cab of Newport.

Edward Sanford, a convicted felon who drove a taxi for Community Cab of Newport, slit the woman's throat in a January 2002 kidnapping and rape. Sanford has pleaded guilty to the attack in criminal court and is serving a 25-year sentence at Western Kentucky Correctional Complex in West Liberty.

During closing arguments, Busald said the jury should send a message that passenger safety should be the No. 1 priority for Northern Kentucky's largest cab company. Community Cab had 160 drivers at the time of the attack.

"Community Cab is responsible because they put a violent felon in a position to prey on the unsuspecting public," he said.

Felix Gora, an attorney for Community Cab, responded to the allegations by trying to shift blame to the prior owners of the cab company. He said the management of Community Cab inherited Sanford as an employee when it purchased rival Yellow Cab of Newport.

Gora also tried to shift blame to Newport, which issued Sanford a cab license despite his criminal record. Sanford had served five years for robbing and beating a woman who was walking across the Roebling Suspension Bridge on her way home from work in 1988.

Ward and the now-defunct Yellow Cab reached an out-of-court settlement with the woman. The terms of that agreement were also not made public.

E-mail jhannah@enquirer.com