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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jack County jury awards $3.3 million
A Jack County jury returned a verdict Thursday in excess of $3.3 million against Texas Specialty Trailers, Marvin Williams and Richard Kellerman , finding they were responsible for a Sept. 22, 2005, accident that resulted in substantial damage to a drilling rig owned and operated by Jacksboro based Jackson & Simmen Drilling Co.
At trial, Jackson & Simmen, which was formed in 2003 by Jerry Jackson of Jacksboro and Frank Simmen of Houston, was represented by David Spiller with the law firm of Spiller & Spiller in Jacksboro, and by Derrick Boyd and Allen Williamson with the law firm of Simpson, Boyd & Powers in Decatur.
Evidence produced at trial showed the defendants only used six or eight chains to secure the 128,000-pound drilling rig. Anita Kerezman, a trucking safety expert from Phoenix, Ariz., testified that federal regulations require 12 to 15 chains to secure a load of this weight.
She also testified that if enough chains had been used, the drilling rig would not have been damaged as a result of the accident.
Williams, owner of Texas Specialty, admitted at trial that he told Jerry Jackson that the drilling rig would ride safely as it was loaded.
The evidence at trial also showed the defendants failed to make any efforts or offer any funds to repair the drilling rig after the accident. As a result, Jackson & Simmen has been without the services of its drilling rig for 16 months.
The jury’s damage award consisted primarily of the cost to repair the drilling rig and lost profits to Jackson & Simmen as a result of having the rig out of service since September 2005.
John Barry of E.C. Tool in Abilene testified as to the amount and extent of repairs that would be necessary for the drilling rig.
Allyn Needham, an economist from Fort Worth, testified as to the amount of lost profits suffered by Jackson & Simmen based on his study of actual day-rates and contract terms available for drilling activity in the Barnett Shale in 2005 and 2006.
Attorneys for Jackson & Simmen say it may still be sometime before Jackson & Simmen is able to collect on the jury verdict.
“These defendants denied responsibility all the way up to and through the trial, and we suspect they will continue to delay efforts to collect on what the jury has said they owe Jackson & Simmen,” Boyd said.
“On behalf of Jerry and Frank, we want to thank the jury for their time and for helping us take the first step toward helping Jackson & Simmen get its rig fixed and get going again,” said Spiller. “And we will continue the efforts to help Jackson & Simmen collect what the jury has said they are owed.”
More than anything, Jackson is thankful for the jury’s service and that this first step in the process is over, but he knows that more battles lay ahead.
“I want to thank the jury, my attorneys and certainly all those people that have understood our situation in the past year and a half and have stuck by us,” Jackson said. “We will continue this right to make sure that these defendants live up to the responsibility that the jury has placed on them.”
A final judgment is expected to be entered in the coming days in which attorneys for Jackson & Simmen say could reach as high as four million dollars.
The nine-women, three-man jury returned the verdict Thursday after a three-day trial.
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