Cooper v. JTB Services, Inc. – MVA Serious polytrauma with lifelong impairments - Harris County, TX - August 23, 2024 - DEFENSE VERDICT (11-1)
In September of 2020, one of JTB Services, Inc.'s 18-wheelers stalled in the middle of a travel lane on a busy Houston highway. About 20 minutes later, Plaintiff crashed into the back of the stalled truck, nearly died at the scene, and suffered numerous serious injuries. He filed suit two days after the crash and litigated his case aggressively, alleging that a negligent maintenance program and negligent training of mechanics and drivers led to the truck stalling in the highway. Plaintiff focused on a history of violations and negative assessments in 8 years of DOT compliance reviews, a history of maintenance problems, and a download of the stalled truck's engine showing numerous fault codes throughout its life. The truck breaking down was, as Plaintiff put it at trial, predictable and preventable.
In contrast, the defense stipulated to all of Plaintiff's past medical expenses (more than $760,000) and agreed to most of Plaintiff's future medical care, but challenged liability for the crash and Plaintiff's injuries. At trial, the defense argued that Plaintiff was responsible for the crash because he was speeding, he was following the car ahead of him too closely, and he was distracted by his cell phone use. Although there was no evidence that Plaintiff was texting at the time of the crash, the available evidence from iMessage screenshots (his cell phone and data were not retained) showed he was on his phone a minute or two before the crash. The defense capitalized both on that evidence and the absence of the phone and its data to suggest that Plaintiff was still distracted in the moments leading up to the crash, explaining why, unlike the hundreds of other cars that passed it in the 20 minutes it was stalled, Plaintiff hit the stalled truck. Assisted by accident reconstruction and human factors expert testimony (using both its own expert and Plaintiff's expert's testimony), the defense argued that Plaintiff could see the stalled truck and would have avoided hitting it if he was going the speed limit or if he had reacted a third of a second earlier.
In his closing argument, Plaintiff asked the jury to award him about $12.7 million. Instead, the jury returned a defense verdict on a 11-1 vote the morning of August 23, 2024.