In Mallory Rae Dies settlement story the UK Daily Mail cites “Death On The American Riviera”

• Mallory Dies, 27, was struck and killed by 32-year-old Raymond Morua in downtown Santa Barbara in December 2013
• Morua worked as an aide to California Democratic Rep. Lois Capps and claims he was working a party for her the night he killed Dies
• Morua had two prior DUI arrests, a hit-and-run and an embezzlement conviction–Dies parents sued claiming Capps failed to vet her employee
• Rep. Capps was dropped from the suit after the federal government assumed liability for her as its employee–the suit settled in November 

A California family has won a $2.5 million settlement from the federal government after their daughter was killed by a drunk congressional aide they claimed was on the job the night he took the wheel while intoxicated.

Mallory Dies, 27, was struck and killed in December 2013 by Raymond Morua, a 32-year-old former aide to Santa Barbara Democratic Rep. Lois Capps.

Dies’ parents sued for wrongful death and claimed Capps’ office hired Iraq war vet Morua despite his two prior DUI arrests, a hit-and-run and an embezzlement conviction.

Wrongful death: Raymond Morua was drunk following a party he purportedly attended while ‘on the clock’ as a congressional aide when he struck and killed 27-year-old Mallory Dies in December 2013 before fleeing the scene

Denial: Rep. Capps also denied that Morua was working for her the night he got drunk at a part before killing Dies. But the Dies family attorney (Dies’ father Matt is pictured left) argued he was. The federal government quietly settled with the family for $2.5 million in November

The federal government quietly settled in November, thereby avoiding a trial without admitting liability for Dies’ death, reports KEYT.

Her parents, Matt and Raeona Dies, initially named Morua, Capps, and the U.S. government in its filing.

However, the federal government assumed liability for Capps as its employee and removed her from the amended court filing.

Morua pleaded guilty earlier this year to DUI, manslaughter and fleeing the scene of a fatal collision. He’s since been sentenced to 20 years to life behind bars.

The Dies initial claim was that Morua was officially on the job the night of December 6, 2013–gladhanding in Rep. Lois Capps’ stead at a private holiday party thrown by a local newspaper.

Capps’ spokesman insisted that their former employee was at the booze-fueled bash on his own when he bought eight cocktails and got behind the wheel.

But Raymond Victor Morua III wrote in a sworn statement that the congresswoman’s scheduler instructed him to attend the party.

‘On or about November 27th, 2013, I was in Representative Capps’ office and was told by Vianey Lopez that I was to attend a Christmas party on Dec. 5, 2013, at The Savoy, a club on State Street in Santa Barbara,’ he wrote.

He had reportedly attended the same event a year earlier as Capps’ emmisary.

‘Mr. Morua has said under oath, under penalty of perjury, that he was on the job,’ Dies famiyl attorney Robert Stoll said earlier this year. Adding that if that’s the case, ‘then Lois Capps is responsible.’

Investigative journalist Peter Lance published a lengthy exposé in which he details an alleged cover-up on the part of Capps staffers, aimed at sparing their boss the embarrassment of having hired and publicly praised Morua.