Thompson Coe and Team Successfully Defends $200 Million Wrongful Death Claim

MAVERICK COUNTY, TX (August 24, 2018) Thompson Coe’s Partner and lead counsel, Jennifer Aufricht, with co-counsel Eddie Morales of Langley & Banack and Darrell Barger of Hartline, Dacus, received a defense verdict in a $200 million lawsuit against highway construction client Anderson Columbia Co., Inc. August 21st.

The case involved a triple fatality resulting from a 2014 rear-end collision caused by an 18 wheeler hitting a pickup truck and creating a chain reaction collision in a construction zone near Eagle Pass, TX. Two of the three surviving families argued traffic control warning signs required by TXDOT were removed by workers.

After over two weeks of trial the jury found no liability on Anderson Columbia and found it in full compliance with TXDOT’s Traffic Control Plan. Investigating State Troopers and TXDOT inspections so verified.

The jury found the sole proximate cause to be the trucking company’s driver’s actions and awarded $3 million to the family of one of the deceased.

Aufricht said “wrongfully accused workers were vindicated by a conscientious jury who put fault where it was deserved.”

“No one wins when there is a loss of life,” said Berry O’Bryan, Anderson Columbia VP of Texas Operations. “Ultimately we have a strong obligation to protect our wrongfully accused employees from false accusations and stand by them every step of the way if a claim against them and our company arises” he said.