Travis County Jury Awards $7.4 Million After Oversized Load Hits Overpass; Appeals Court Reverses in 2022
After trial: The Eighth Court of Appeals reversed on August 31, 2022, rendering take-nothing judgments on several claims and remanding the rest for a new trial because of jury charge problems, so the verdict no longer stands. We could not confirm the outcome of any retrial or further appeal.
Won by The Carlson Law Firm.
A Travis County jury awarded Ronnie Claxton of Del Valle and his wife about $7.4 million in January 2020 after an oversized load struck a Highway 71 overpass and a heavy steel tie-down ratchet from the load came through his windshield, injuring his neck and spine. On August 31, 2022, the Eighth Court of Appeals reversed in large part, rendering judgment for the owner and on several claims against the company and driver, and remanded the remaining claims for a new trial.
What happened
On April 5, 2017, Dennis Rayner was hauling an oversized oilfield load from Dayton to Midland under a state permit that dictated his route. Near Austin he took the wrong ramp onto eastbound U.S. 183 and, after several miles in the wrong direction, struck the overpass that carries State Highway 71. The impact knocked part of the load's securement loose, and a heavy steel tie-down ratchet came through the windshield of Ronnie Claxton's vehicle, which was traveling behind the truck.
Claxton, of Del Valle, was left with significant neck and spine injuries that kept him from returning to work. He and his wife, Sandra, sued the driver, the trucking company Even Better Logistics, and its owner, Michelle Croom, in the 146th District Court in Travis County. The claims included negligence and gross negligence.
The case went to a Travis County jury, which returned its verdict on January 23, 2020. The total was about $7.4 million. Ronnie Claxton received about $1.26 million in compensatory damages, made up of past lost earning capacity, future lost earning capacity and future medical expenses. Sandra Claxton received $35,000 for the loss of future household services. The jury added roughly $6.1 million in exemplary damages spread across the defendants. Reporting on the verdict noted that the plaintiffs' side said it had offered to resolve the case within the company's insurance limits before trial, a characterization the company disputed.
The defendants appealed. The case was transferred from the Third Court of Appeals to the Eighth Court of Appeals in El Paso, where Jaime McCain Lynn is listed on the docket as counsel for the Claxtons. On August 31, 2022, a three-judge panel reversed in large part. It rendered a take-nothing judgment for Croom on every theory of liability and for the company on the claims that it was independently negligent in hiring, entrusting the truck and maintaining it. It also rendered judgment for Rayner on gross negligence.
The court did not end the case there. It found problems with the jury instructions and with how some liability questions were submitted, and it sent the remaining claims against Rayner, and the claim that the company answers for its driver's negligence, back for a new trial. The 2020 judgment therefore no longer stands in any amount. The record we reviewed does not show how the retrial or any further appeal was resolved.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Rayner v. Claxton, No. 08-20-00145-CV, Texas Eighth Court of Appeals, Aug. 31, 2022·Archived copy
- 2.Texas Eighth Court of Appeals docket, Rayner v. Claxton, No. 08-20-00145-CV, appeal from Travis County 146th District Court
- 3.Killeen Daily Herald, 'Jury awards $7.4 million to man in trucking crash case', Jan. 2020·Archived copy
- 4.Land Line Media, 'Even Better Logistics escapes nuclear verdict', Aug. 2022·Archived copy
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