A former Lake Forest High School student, paralyzed in a car collision after a 2006 teenage drinking party, will receive a $2.5 million settlement from the mother of the party's hosts.

George Baldwin, now 22 and paralyzed from the chest down, sued Lauralee and Brandt Pfeifer after the Nov. 19, 2006, party at their Lake Forest home.

Their daughters, then 16 and 17, threw the underage bash. Baldwin left the party with William Klairmont, who crashed his car into a utility box on Illinois 43 in Lake Bluff. Both men were hurt, Baldwin more seriously.

On Wednesday, a Lake County judge approved the settlement against Lauralee Pfeifer for the maximum $2.5 million covered by her homeowner's insurance, said Patrick Salvi, Baldwin's attorney.

"We were not suing her as a social host but in her role as a parent," Salvi said. "It was her duty to supervise her children."

Brandt Pfeifer, who broke up the party when he arrived home, was dropped earlier from the suit. A March trial is scheduled in Baldwin's suit against Klairmont.

Salvi said Baldwin could have asked for more money. "He knows the Pfeifers and chose not to do it," Salvi said.

Mike Borders, Lauralee Pfeifer's attorney, said that because Baldwin "obviously had catastrophic and sympathetic injuries," the insurance company decided to settle the case.