Fitts Zehl LLP: Jury Awards $4.1 Million to Woman Injured in 18-Wheeler Crash

HOUSTON, April 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- A 41-year-old Mississippi woman seriously injured when her pick-up truck rolled over after it was rear-ended by an 18-wheel tractor-trailer driver on a Texas interstate highway in 2011 was awarded $4.1 million by a Dallas jury, according to her attorney Ryan Zehl and his co-counsel.

The jury in Judge Emily Tobolowsky's court ruled late Thursday that the truck driver, who had two previous rear-end collisions, was grossly negligent. The jury found that his employer, Greenwood Motor Lines, Inc., doing business as R&L Carriers, was also grossly negligent in failing to properly supervise and train the driver.

The collision near Weatherford, Texas on I-20 on the evening of Dec. 5, 2011 seriously injured Bobbie Bush and killed her two pet dogs, which were ejected from her vehicle. The truck driver was estimated to have been traveling at least 65 mph at the time of the collision.

Ms. Bush is represented by Mr. Zehl and Kevin Haynes, of Houston-based Fitts Zehl LLP; Carmen S. Mitchell of Mitchell, Goff & Mitchell, L.L.P., of Dallas; and Ron C. McCallum, of Ted B. Lyon & Associates, P.C., of Mesquite, Texas.

Mr. Zehl, who acted as lead trial counsel on the case, said, "The verdict will enable Bobbie to try to get her life back on track and receive the medical care that she will need for the foreseeable future. The verdict shows that the people of Dallas County will hold even the largest trucking companies responsible when they allow unqualified and reckless drivers behind the wheels of deadly vehicles."

The jury award included $1.2 million for Ms. Bush's past and future medical expenses, $1 million for past and future physical impairment, and $50,000 in punitive damages against the trucking company. 

The case is Bobbie Bush v. R&L Carriers, Inc., et al, DC-11-16041 in the 298th District Court of Dallas County, Texas.

Contact: Ryan Zehl, Fitts Zehl LLP, Galleria Tower I, 2700 Post Oak Blvd., Suite 1120, Houston, Texas 77056, 800.993.4887, www.fittszehl.com.

SOURCE Fitts Zehl LLP

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