|
Press Room
|
Family awarded almost $7 million in civil case
By BRIAN KNOX
Wise County Messenger
A Wise County jury awarded the McBride family $6.9 million Thursday in a civil case involving Jason Dale McBride’;s death from an auto accident last year involving four rock haulers.
McBride’s widow, Nadine, and their son, Damon, of Bridgeport, were awarded $6.7 million in damages. McBride’s parents, Deborah and Dale McBride, were awarded $200,000.
The accident occurred on April 17, 2001, on U.S. 380 about three miles west of Decatur. A westbound Omega Contracting Truck driven by Fabian Cardenas of DeSoto lost two tires. An eastbound Aggregate Haulers truck driven by Juan Torres of Dallas either struck the tires or swerved to avoid hitting the
tires. His truck ended up in the westbound lane, first striking a truck driven by Michael Ray of Denton and then hitting McBride’s truck. McBride died at the scene, while Ray and Torres were flown to a Metroplex hospital with serious injuries.
The difficult task placed before jurors was deciding who was responsible for the accident. The complicated case involved 33 witnesses and six different law firms, each with its own arguments for who was responsible for the death of McBride.
The McBride family’s lawyers, Mike Simpson, Derrick Boyd and Alan Powers, argued that the primary cause of the wreck was Aggregate Haulers because they did not properly search Torres’ background before hiring him as a driver.
Simpson claimed Torres lied about previous work experience, traffic accidents and traffic tickets on his job application.
“We feel like Aggregate Haulers needs to admit they have problems in their employment practices,” Simpson said. “... We feel like this verdict sends a message to truck companies that they must abide by state regulations in hiring practices. They must check employment history and hire good drivers.
They didn’t in this case.”
Torres’ lawyers, Chunn and Pilcher, argued that the lies on the job applications were not a direct cause of the accident. They argued that responsibility is with the truck that lost the tires, Omega, and the company
that sold them the truck, Porter Truck Sales. They also argued that McBride was following too closely to Ray’s vehicle and did not properly steer his vehicle to avoid the accident.
Tom Stollenwerck, attorney for Aggregate Haulers, also blamed Omega for the accident. “If the wheels hadn’t come off, we wouldn’t be here today,” he told jurors in closing arguments.
Omega and Cardenas’ lawyer, E.L. Caraway, argued that inspections of the tires were performed and no problems could be detected. He argued that Torres was to blame for not taking proper evasive action.
Jonathan Ayers, attorney for Porter Truck Sales, said no witnesses could be produced to prove that the company did anything wrong. He also claimed Torres was responsible for the deadly crash.
To further complicate matters, Torres had counter sued the estate of Jason McBride, claiming McBride was at fault for his own death. The McBride estate attorney, Tom Fee, told jurors there was no credible evidence that McBride was following Ray’s vehicle too closely or that he could have avoided the accident.
After nine days of listening to the arguments, the jury met for six hours before reaching their unanimous verdict.
In dividing up the responsibility for the death of McBride, the jury found Torres and Aggregate Haulers each 20 percent responsible, Omega Contracting 35 percent responsible, Cardenas 20 percent responsible, Porter Truck Sales 5 percent responsible and Jason McBride 0 percent responsible.
Although the family was originally seeking $8 million in the lawsuit, Simpson said the verdict pleased the McBrides.
“It vindicated Jason McBride because the jury found him 0 percent responsible for the accident;” Simpson said. “That was very important to the family. The damages were also important. The family feels it sustained a substantial loss and obviously the jury felt the same way.”
The jury also awarded Torres $475,225 compensation for his injuries. In this case, the jury found 40 percent responsibility with Omega Contracting, 30 percent with Cardenas, 25 percent with Torres and 5 percent with Porter Truck Sales.
In the second phase of the trial, the jury instructed Aggregate Haulers to pay Nadine and Damon McBride $800,000 in exemplary damages, which is meant as a punishment. The jury found that Torres does not owe any exemplary damages.
Ray, who was represented by Carson Howell P.L.L.C., settled out of court with the defendents on the Friday before the trial started. The total settlement was $830,000.
BACK TO TOP
|
