$140 Million Settlement After an 18-Wheeler Crash Left an East Texas Driver Quadriplegic
Won by Goudarzi & Young, L.L.P..
A 39-year-old man was left quadriplegic in 2017 when an 18-wheeler struck his vehicle on Highway 259 near Ore City in Upshur County, Texas. The case went to trial, where evidence showed the truck's driver, Dijuana Smith, had been involved in multiple crashes before the wreck, and where attorneys said she had violated state and federal trucking regulations. Goudarzi & Young, L.L.P., of Gilmer, Texas, represented the injured man, and the parties reached a $140 million settlement in July 2019. The firm, and later a Lawdragon profile of managing partner Brent Goudarzi, both described it as the largest settlement for a single plaintiff in American legal history. The identities of the plaintiff and the trucking company were not publicly disclosed.
What happened
In 2017, a 39-year-old man was driving on Highway 259 just north of Ore City, in Upshur County, Texas, when an 18-wheeler struck his vehicle. The impact left him paralyzed in all four limbs. Quadriplegia of that severity typically means a permanent loss of function in both arms and both legs, along with a lifelong need for medical care and daily assistance.
The truck was driven by Dijuana Smith. Evidence presented during the trial showed that Smith had been involved in multiple crashes before this wreck, and attorneys in the case said she had violated state and federal regulations that govern commercial truck drivers and the companies that employ them. Federal rules limit how many hours a truck driver can spend behind the wheel and require carriers to screen a driver's crash history before putting them on the road. Reporting on the case did not identify which specific regulations Smith or her employer violated, only that violations were found. The trucking company that employed Smith was not named in the reporting on the case.
The injured driver hired Goudarzi & Young, L.L.P., the Gilmer, Texas firm known for handling catastrophic-injury trucking cases across East Texas. The firm built the claim around Smith's crash history and the regulatory violations attorneys said contributed to the wreck, arguing the trucking company had put an unsafe driver behind the wheel.
The claim reached trial in Upshur County. Local reporting describes evidence being presented during the trial about Smith's crash history and the regulatory violations attorneys said contributed to the wreck. The case did not run to a jury verdict. In July 2019, roughly two years after the crash, a $140 million settlement was announced on the injured man's behalf. Managing partner Brent Goudarzi is credited with obtaining the result, which the firm, and later a Lawdragon profile of Goudarzi, both described as the largest settlement ever recorded for a single plaintiff in American legal history.
The identities of the plaintiff and the trucking company were not released, and the specific Upshur County court where the case was tried was not named in public reporting. How the settlement was funded, including any division between the trucking company and its insurer, was also not disclosed.
Goudarzi & Young said a portion of the settlement proceeds would go toward education programs for commercial truck drivers, an effort the firm tied directly to the safety violations attorneys said led to the crash. The Ore City settlement remains one of the largest single-plaintiff recoveries the firm has publicly reported.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.KLTV (Tyler, TX), 2019-07-31, staff-reported news article: reports the $140 million settlement, the crash facts (Highway 259 north of Ore City, 2017, 39-year-old driver rendered quadriplegic), that evidence was presented during the trial showing defendant driver Dijuana Smith had prior crashes and violated state and federal trucking regulations, the driver-education use of settlement proceeds, and names Goudarzi & Young, LLP of Gilmer as the injured driver's counsel (firm named, no individual attorney named)
- 2.Lawdragon, 2020-06-29, bylined Lawyer Limelight feature by Katrina Dewey: corroborates the result and names Brent Goudarzi individually, stating 'In 2019, Goudarzi obtained a $140M settlement, the largest in American history for a single-plaintiff case, for a 39-year-old man whose arms and legs were paralyzed after an 18-wheeler collided with his vehicle'
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Barbara Dalby was in her car on State Highway 191 in Odessa, Texas, on a Friday night in November 2019 when a Ford F-150 owned by Hunt Oil Company crossed into her lane and hit her head on. Her lawyers said the driver, Hunt Oil employee Mikeal Crosson, had drugs and alcohol in his system, and court filings placed him at a bar a few blocks away shortly before the wreck. Dalby needed lumbar fusion surgery for a back injury her lawyers described as permanent, and she has not been able to return to work. She sued Hunt Oil and Crosson in Dallas County's 116th District Court, and an insurance company for Hunt Oil agreed to pay $30 million in late September 2024 with jury selection already underway.
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