$41 Million Verdict Against Drunk Company Driver and Employer in Limestone County Crash
Won by Daniel Stark Injury Lawyers.
A Limestone County jury awarded $41 million to a married couple who suffered catastrophic injuries when an intoxicated company driver ran a stop sign and struck their pickup truck, holding both the driver and his employer vicariously liable.
What happened
On December 19, 2019, a married couple was driving home from work on FM 39 at SH 164 in Limestone County when a company truck blew through a stop sign and slammed into their pickup. The driver, Roger Landry, was operating a vehicle owned by QA Services LLC, a Grimes County business, while blacked out from alcohol.
The crash left both plaintiffs with severe, life-threatening injuries. The wife suffered an aortic dissection, a lacerated colon, torn small intestine, multiple broken ribs, and a broken sacrum. Her husband sustained a broken humerus that was driven into his neck, causing nerve, artery, and muscle damage. Both were life-flighted to hospitals and underwent emergency surgeries. Their recoveries stretched over months and required ongoing care assistance.
Landry had two alcohol-related offenses in the six months before the wreck. The owner of QA Services had bailed Landry out of jail for prior alcohol offenses and, just three months before the collision, returned him immediately to driving duties. Jonathan Stark and Christopher Carver of Daniel Stark Injury Lawyers argued that the company's conduct made it directly responsible for what followed.
At trial, the attorneys established that Landry was acting within the scope of his employment when the crash occurred, making QA Services and its owner vicariously liable for his actions and for their own violations of company safety policies. The jury agreed. In May 2023, it returned a $41 million civil verdict, the largest in Limestone County history according to attorney Chris Carver.
On the criminal side, Landry was convicted of two counts of intoxication assault with serious bodily injury and sentenced to concurrent seven-year prison terms.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.KWTX News: $41 million verdict awarded in Limestone Co. drunk driving case (May 22, 2023)·Archived copy
- 2.KBTX News: Grimes County business, driver ordered to pay $41 million in DWI injury case (May 22, 2023)·Archived copy
- 3.KBTX News: Local injury law firm lands on list of Top 20 Verdicts in Texas (Sept 18, 2024)·Archived copy
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