Jury verdict in case involving injury caused by truck backing up.
Suit filed in District Court of Dallas County.

The client was a paint salesman who was referred to us by one of the largest law firms in Dallas. A lumber truck stopped in the right turn only lane at the red light on northbound Douglas at Northwest Highway. The client stopped behind the lumber truck. Another car stopped behind the client. The inexperienced driver of the lumber truck wanted to continue north on Douglas, so he backed up to be able to change lanes. A long piece of lumber extended back beyond the bed of the truck. The client's car was trapped by the car behind. The piece of lumber penetrated the client's front windshield at eye level. The lumber did not strike the client, but it caused him to strain his back trying to lean over to get out of the way. The client's pain persisted despite physical therapy, medication and other conservative treatment. Two years later MRI testing showed the existence of a lumbar disk herniation. The client underwent back surgery. Before trial our client offered to settle for a moderate amount. The lumber company declined. At trial the defendant aggressively disputed that the herniated disc first diagnosed two years after the accident was caused by leaning over in the seat. The jury returned a verdict, to which the court added pre-judgment interest. The Defendant elected to forego appeal and paid the full amount of the judgment.

Four vehicle collision on rain slick bridge on Interstate 75 involving eighteen wheeler
Suit filed in District Court of Navarro County

The case was referred to us by a Dallas commercial attorney. Three members of an Oklahoma family were traveling in a rental truck near Corsicana. A van in front slid into the right guard rail and started a chain reaction. An SUV following the van stopped suddenly. The rental truck occupied by our clients spun out of control, bounced off the left guard rail, hit the SUV and came to a stop facing sideways, blocking both lanes of the bridge. The defendant's 18 wheeler hit the driver's door area of the rental truck. We represented the surviving spouse, two sons and parents of the fatally injured rental truck driver, and his injured sister and nephew. The sister had multiple fractures. Her ten year old son was not significantly injured but he did suffer significant bystander mental anguish damages. The recovery in this case was achieved despite the initial findings of the TDPS Highway Patrol officer who investigated the accident that the driver of the primary defendant's 18 wheeler was less at fault than the front vehicle and no more at fault than our own deceased driver. The front vehicle carried inadequate insurance coverage. We immediately filed suit and requested production of the driver's logs, the driver's application for employment and other evidence from the files of the trucking company. We engaged a competent accident reconstruction expert witness. (The trucking company's accident construction expert was in Corsicana taking pictures and interviewing witnesses less than 24 hours after the collision. ) We proved by testimony of the driver, the driver's brother, managerial level employees of the Missouri based trucking company and other out of state witnesses that the trucking company hired the driver despite having actual knowledge that his CDL (commercial driver's license) had been suspended by the State of Arizona for driving while intoxicated. (Arizona authorities failed to report the DUI conviction to Missouri, so an official check of the defendant driver's driving record came back clean.) We proved by driver's logs and electronically recorded dispatch records that the 18 wheeler was speeding over the legal limit during a ten hour period on the day preceding the collision and again over the last 52 miles from Pleasant Grove to Corsicana leading up to the collision. For more than a year after the collision the defendant trucking company offered zero in settlement. The case settled shortly after the trial court granted our motion for sanctions against the trucking company for spoliation of evidence.

Slow speed collision between two 18 wheelers
Suit filed in District Court of Denton County

The case was referred to our office by a Texas attorney. The rear end collision occurred in the parking lot of a truck stop. We represented a passenger who was resting in the sleeping compartment of front truck. The client's low back was injured, and she later required surgery.

18 wheeler jackknife collision
Suit filed in District Court of Dallas County.

A tractor trailer rig coming south from I 35E entered the downtown Dallas mixmaster at a speed too great for the stop and go traffic conditions. The trailer jackknifed around to the right and hit the rear of the car occupied by our client, knocking it off the road onto the grassy right of way. Our client experienced a lumbar disk herniation that led to low back fusion surgery.

Truck accident in Keller
Suit filed in District Court of Tarrant County.

A dump truck with a high front hood could not see our client's small car stopped at a red light. When the light changed, the truck moved forward and shoved our client some distance down the road. The client suffered soft tissue injuries not requiring surgery.

High speed rear end accident on I 75 in stop and go traffic between Van Alstyne and McKinney
Suit filed in District Court of Grayson County.

Our client was an elderly apartment maintenance contractor driving a pickup truck. An eighteen wheeler hit so hard that the client's head broke out the back window of his pickup. The client suffered aggravation of a degenerative neck condition causing severe chronic pain but no surgery and no significant loss of earnings.

Closed head injury in accident with 18 wheeler
Suit filed in District Court of Harris County

Our client was a truly beautiful young woman. She was a passenger in a pickup hit by a gasoline tanker truck at a highway intersection in Austin around two o'clock in the morning. The pickup was driven by the client's date. The young man was killed, and post mortem testing showed about double the legal limit of alcohol in his blood. The police determined that the deceased young man was at fault in failing to yield the right of way at a blinking red light and found that the driver of the eighteen wheeler was not at fault in any way. The client was in a coma for several weeks. When she awoke she was left with permanent brain damage. She suffers partial paralysis so that she is unable to walk, speak or swallow even though she remains fully alert mentally. When the accident happened the client's mother rushed to Austin and immediately hired a law firm whose advertisement she saw on the back cover of the Austin Yellow Pages. The pickup's liability insurance coverage was not even sufficient to pay the hospital bill. The Austin firm made no effort to pursue any claim against the 18 wheeler, which was the only potential defendant with adequate liability insurance limits. After a year of inaction the mother discharged the Austin firm and asked us to take over the case. (She later learned that the firm maintained an office but no licensed attorney in Austin, and that the gentleman who brought the fee contract for her to sign at Brackenridge Hospital was not a lawyer.) We accepted the case and filed suit against the owner and driver of the gasoline tanker truck. We employed a highly regarded accident reconstruction expert. Through intense investigation, witness interviews, measurements of skids, written discovery and other gathering of information we uncovered evidence indicating that the tanker driver was traveling at excessive speed, that he was not keeping a proper lookout and that he failed to make proper use of his brakes. There was also evidence that the employer violated FMCSA federal regulations in its pre-hire investigation of the driver and that it failed to provide adequate training and supervision. We alleged that the employer was guilty of gross negligence in using fatigued night shift drivers to keep the gasoline tankers in use 24 hours a day and promoting excessive speed by paying drivers by the mile rather than the hour. We engaged a life care planner as an expert witness as to the probable lifetime costs for the level of care needed by the client. The defendants' attorneys deposed a number of witnesses who were present at a party attended by our client and her date, developing evidence that both had consumed too much alcohol before leaving. We were unable to controvert that evidence because the boy was dead and our client had no memory whatsoever of the entire weekend. She does not even remember the boy she was with. We were able to find a prominent Houston lawyer who had been successful in trial of difficult liability cases against the same petroleum transportation company. We took the mother to Clear Lake City and persuaded the lawyer to associate with us as lead counsel in trial of the case. Meanwhile, the defendant driver had been fired for other reasons. He twice failed to appear when subpoenaed for his oral deposition in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he lived. At the hearing on our second motion for sanctions the Court ruled that the driver would not be permitted to testify at trial. We filmed a fifteen minute interview with our client communicating as she does by pointing to letters on an alphabet board. We played the tape at the beginning of an all day mediation in Houston. The case settled. The client's structured settlement was adequate to build a new home for herself and her family overlooking Lake Ray Hubbard and provide ample funds for 24/7 in home nursing care, medical treatment and all her needs for the balance of her lifetime.

Jury verdict against moving company affirmed on appeal
Suit filed in District Court of Dallas County. Jury verdict and judgment affirmed on appeal.

The impatient driver of an 18 wheeler whose brakes were being repaired mistakenly believed the work was finished. He climbed into the cab, started the engine and began to drive away. Our client, a mechanic, was still under the trailer on a sliding board. The panic stricken client jerked himself out before being crushed by wheels, but in doing so he suffered a herniated lumbar disk injury that required fusion surgery. The moving company offered only a nuisance value settlement, contending that it was not responsible because the driver was an independent contractor, not an employee. The jury found course of employment and awarded damages for the client's back injury. The defendant appealed. The appellate court held that a truck owner or lessee in whose name a government permit is issued may not avoid liability for acts of the driver. The appellate court decision has been cited in nineteen subsequent cases, law review articles and other legal texts. (Greyhound Van Lines vs. Orman Bellamy, 502 S.W.2d 586.)

Rear end gravel truck collision on Highway 121 in Frisco
Suit filed in District Court of Collin County.

Our client was a construction superintendent driving a pickup truck stopped in traffic at a red light on Highway 121. The fatigued driver of an eighteen wheeler tractor trailer rig loaded with gravel rear ended our client's pickup. The accident occurred at 4:30 p.m., about fourteen hours after the driver had reported for duty. The client suffered a new neck injury and aggravation of previously existing urinary retention problems from an old gunshot wound to the lumbar spine. The client was an amateur body builder whose excellent physical condition prevented more serious injuries. The client's only lost time from work was two weeks when he took off to have neck surgery for removal of a cervical herniated disc.

Rear end collision on Highway 67 near Cleburne
Suit filed in District Court of Johnson County.

This case was referred to us by a prominent Dallas attorney. The recovery was obtained despite the finding of TDPS accident investigator officer that our client was at fault in following too closely behind a stopping vehicle, swerving onto the right shoulder then back onto the highway into the path of the defendants' plumbing truck. The client's automobile went out of control across the center stripe and collided head on with another motorist. Before the collision the elderly client was able to live independently, drive a car and care for himself. It appears that the debilitating effect of the accident trauma will necessitate permanent residency in a nursing home.

Eighteen wheeler / pedestrian collision on LBJ Freeway
Suit filed in District Court of Dallas County.

Our client was a young athlete who had started 42 consecutive games as offensive lineman during his college football career. Through no fault on his part his car was involved in a collision with another automobile and became disabled on the freeway late at night during heavy rain. The client got out and walked to the other car to see if the driver needed help. An SUV stopped some distance behind and turned on emergency flashers. The defendants' tractor trailer rig approached from behind at a speed too great for the rain slick conditions. One of its dual tandem trailers jackknifed to the right, hit the SUV and propelled it into the two disabled cars and the client. The client experienced injuries to his teeth and a broken leg that required surgical insertion of a metal rod through the length of his tibia.