Family of Midland Father Killed by 18-Wheeler Awarded $49 Million After Gross Negligence Finding
Won by The Ammons Law Firm LLP.
An Ector County jury found OPG Logistics, LLC and its driver, Biorkys Sanchez Fernandez, grossly negligent in a January 2025 collision on FM 307 near Midland, Texas, that killed 29-year-old Steffan Robert Mick, a husband, father of two young children, and maintenance technician at ProPetro Services. In May 2026 the jury awarded Mick's widow, children, and parents a combined $49 million, including $40.5 million in compensatory damages and $8.5 million in punitive damages, after evidence showed Sanchez had been on duty more than 15 hours and driving more than 12 without a break at the time of the crash. Jurors assigned 65 percent of responsibility to OPG Logistics and 35 percent to Sanchez. Rob Ammons and Elizabeth H. Lawrence of The Ammons Law Firm, with co-counsel Brian Carney, represented the family.
What happened
On the evening of January 27, 2025, Steffan Robert Mick was driving home on FM 307 near Midland, Texas, after a shift as a maintenance technician at ProPetro Services. He was 29 years old, married, and the father of two young children. At 6:36 p.m., a 2016 Peterbilt semitruck pulling an empty 42-foot trailer, driven by Biorkys Sanchez Fernandez and owned by OPG Logistics, LLC, made a left turn across the road directly into the path of Mick's Chevrolet Suburban. He was pronounced dead at the scene 22 minutes later.
The case went to trial in Ector County District Court, case number C25020166CV, before Judge Lori Ruiz-Crutcher. Evidence at trial showed that Sanchez had already been driving more than 12 hours and on duty more than 15 hours, in excess of federal hours-of-service limits, at the time of the crash. Plaintiff's counsel also presented evidence that Sanchez had falsified her Records of Duty Status, including the entry for the day before the collision. The trial evidence went beyond the driver's conduct: jurors heard that OPG Logistics sent its drivers onto public roads under its federal operating authority without a driver training manual, a written safety manual, safe-driving policies, instructional videos, third-party safety training, group safety meetings, or periodic performance reviews.
After a three-day trial that concluded on the evening of May 21, 2026, the jury found that Sanchez had failed to yield the right-of-way and made an unsafe left turn, and it found both Sanchez and OPG Logistics grossly negligent, the company additionally for negligent hiring, training, and supervision. Jurors assigned 35 percent of the responsibility to Sanchez and 65 percent to OPG Logistics.
The jury awarded a total of $49 million. The compensatory portion, $40.5 million, included $500,000 for Mick's own pain and suffering in the moments before his death, $10 million each to his widow, Kayla Callahan, and to each of his two children for pecuniary loss, loss of companionship, and mental anguish, and $5 million each to his parents, Kevin and Jennifer Mick, for loss of companionship and mental anguish. The jury also found that Sanchez and OPG Logistics had acted with conscious indifference to the safety of others and awarded $8.5 million in punitive damages, $1 million against Sanchez and $7.5 million against OPG Logistics.
Rob Ammons and Elizabeth H. Lawrence of The Ammons Law Firm represented the Mick family at trial along with Brian Carney of The Carney Law Firm. OPG Logistics and Sanchez were represented by Kurt Paxson and Stephanie Poore of Mounce, Green, Myers, Safi, Paxson & Galatzan.
As of this writing, roughly four months after the verdict, no appeal or post-trial ruling has been publicly reported. Texas law caps most exemplary damages awards, but the cap is tied to the economic damages a jury finds, and nothing in the public record so far indicates the $8.5 million punitive award has been challenged or reduced.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.The Texas Lawbook, May 2026: reports the May 21, 2026 Ector County verdict in Mick v. OPG Logistics/Sanchez Fernandez, the case number, judge, damages breakdown by plaintiff, the 65/35 liability split, and names Rob Ammons and Elizabeth H. Lawrence of The Ammons Law Firm (with Brian Carney) as plaintiff's counsel and Kurt Paxson and Stephanie Poore as defense counsel
- 2.First Alert 7 (CBS7/KOSA, Midland-Odessa), May 22, 2026: independent local news confirmation of the verdict date, collision date and location, the gross negligence finding, the compensatory/punitive breakdown, and the 65/35 liability apportionment
- 3.CDLLife, 2026: trucking-industry trade press report confirming the hours-of-service violations and adding the allegation that the driver falsified her Records of Duty Status the day before the crash
- 4.FreightWaves, May 25, 2026: independent trucking trade-press report confirming the $49 million total, the $40.5 million compensatory and $8.5 million punitive split, the 65/35 apportionment, and naming Rob Ammons of the Ammons law firm for the family and Kurt Paxson of Mounce Green for the defense
- 5.The Ammons Law Firm LLP (firm)
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