Family receives record-breaking $14.3M verdict in lawsuit from 2020 deadly crash in St. Johns County

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — A record-breaking $14.3 million verdict was awarded to a local family left devastated by a drunk driver in a deadly 2020 St. Johns County crash.

The day after Christmas in 2020, Raquel Haralambou’s life changed forever. She was on her way to the family lake house from Night of Lights in St. Augustine with her husband, her 2-year-old daughter, her brother James “Jimmy” Knippenberg, and his wife.

They came to visit because Haralambou was expecting twins and was roughly eight months pregnant.

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“Every day, I think of my two girls running around, fighting with their sister, I want to call my brother every day, and I can’t,” she said. “I can’t because one person decided to do something against the law.”

A fun night turned deadly when police say Michael Rhein drove drunk and crashed into them.

Haralambou’s brother died and so did her unborn twins from the extent of her injuries.

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“Losing my brother is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” she said. “Not only did we lose the girls too, but to save my life I had to have a hysterectomy, so we lost that in our newly fresh marriage.”

In 2022, Rhein was sentenced to 41 years in prison and this week a lawsuit in a civil case against him and the owner of the car led to a payout of $14.3 million, the most ever in St. Johns County. Senior trial lawyer, Dennis Dore, with the Law Offices of Ron Sholes, said the legal battle isn’t done yet.

“There’s legal steps that are and continue to be taken to get this family a full recovery for every single dime the jury awarded,” he said.

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Since the tragedy, Haralambou started an organization providing free rides for those under the influence. As of Wednesday, she said she signed off on paperwork to adopt a child after fostering.

While the money won’t change what happened, she said they’ll use it for good.

“No amount of money will ever bring my children, or my brother back, I would trade it all in a heartbeat but again it will help us provide rides for impaired people,” she said. “It will help us foster more children. There’s so much good we plan on doing with this.”

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