$30 Million Settlement for Odessa Woman After Hunt Oil Employee Hit Her Head-On While Impaired
After trial: Paid by Hunt Oil's insurer.
Won by Aldous Law and Goudarzi & Young, L.L.P..
Barbara Dalby, an Odessa proposal specialist and mother of three, secured a $30 million settlement against Hunt Oil after one of the company's intoxicated employees struck her head-on in 2019, leaving her with permanent spinal injuries and unable to work.
What happened
On a Friday evening in November 2019, Barbara Dalby was driving on State Highway 191 in Odessa when a Ford F-150 owned by Hunt Oil Company crossed into her path and struck her vehicle head-on. The driver, Hunt Oil employee Mikeal Crosson, had spent time at Fast Eddie's Sports Tavern and Social Club with his Hunt Oil supervisor before getting behind the wheel, and toxicology evidence showed drugs and alcohol in his system at the time of the crash.
Dalby, then 53, suffered a severe lumbar injury that required spinal fusion surgery. The surgery left her with lasting complications, and she has not been able to return to work since the wreck. Before the crash, she had worked as a proposal specialist supporting law enforcement and military organizations.
Her attorneys, Charla Aldous of Aldous Walker in Dallas and Brent Goudarzi of Goudarzi and Young in Longview, filed suit in the 116th District Court in Dallas County under case number DC-21-11344. The suit named Hunt Oil Company and Crosson as defendants, and the court granted Crosson's motion to designate Fast Eddie's Sports Tavern as a responsible third party.
The case was three years in litigation before reaching a courtroom. As jury selection began before Judge Tonya Parker on September 25, 2024, the parties reached a $30 million settlement. Attorneys on the case described it as the largest settlement of its kind ever obtained in Dallas County for a personal-injury case of this type.
The settlement resolved Dalby's claims against Hunt Oil and Crosson. Dalby's lead counsel noted that the outcome reflected the weight jurors place on corporate responsibility when an employee causes serious harm while acting within the scope of employment.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Texas Lawbook: As Jury Selection Begins, $30M Settlement Reached in Hunt Oil Crash Suit (Sept. 2024)·Archived copy
- 2.Odessa American: Hunt Oil Settles Odessa Car Crash Lawsuit for $30 Million (Sept. 2024)·Archived copy
- 3.Midland Reporter-Telegram (B. Kay Richter, staff writer), published 2024-09-25 and updated 2024-09-26·Archived copy
- 4.Odessa American reporting republished on Yahoo News, 2024-09-26·Archived copy
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