Groups Support Werner in Legal Filing Over ‘Nuclear’ Verdict

Werner first appealed the verdict to the Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston in October 2018. That appeal was denied in a 5-4 decision after languishing in the legal system for several years. (Werner Enterprises Inc.)

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The Texas Trucking Association and another advocacy group have filed a “friend of the court” brief with the Texas Supreme Court asking that it reject a $100 million lower-court accident verdict against Werner Enterprises.

“Trucking companies are targeted as deep pockets and faced with a bombardment of unmeritorious claims, settlements and awards,” said the TXTA and Trucking Industry Defense Association's amicus curiae brief, filed in mid-February.

Baltimore-based TIDA is an international organization that includes more than 1,900 members consisting of motor carriers. The group is working with a Texas trucking industry coalition that includes TXTA.

“TXTA’s members have a significant interest in this honorable court ensuring that trucking companies are not held responsible for damages they did not cause, nor facing disproportionate liability,” the brief said. “It is an all-too-common occurrence, and this case — where the truck driver stayed in his lane, was driving below the speed limit and never lost control — is a perfect example.”

Werner last year filed with the Texas Supreme Court an appeal in the case of a $100 million lower-court verdict that a Houston jury awarded during a 2018 trial. That verdict was upheld by a state appeals court last year, prompting the Supreme Court appeal.

This is how you lose an industry. This is how people look at trucking and think one thing — and that becomes the narrative.

John Esparza, CEO of Texas Trucking Association

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The 2014 crash at the center of the case occurred when a pickup truck driven by a friend of the plaintiff in the lawsuit lost control on a slick interstate, traveled across the highway median and collided with a Werner tractor traveling on the opposite stretch of road.

Despite the Werner truck being hit by a vehicle that crossed the median, the jury in the 2018 trial was instructed that it could apply a “proximate cause” legal standard in the case. A proximate cause is defined as a partial cause that was a substantial factor in bringing about an injury, and without which such injury would not have occurred. The court ruled that there was “sufficient evidence” to support a finding that insufficient training and supervision “proximately caused the collision.”

Werner first appealed the verdict to the Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston in October 2018. That appeal was denied in a 5-4 decision after languishing in the legal system for several years.

“In this case, it was undisputed that [the Werner driver] maintained complete control of his vehicle at all times, never left his lane of travel and acted reasonably in response to the sudden emergency when a vehicle crossed the median and struck his truck head-on,” the trucking associations argued in the brief. “In fact, the argument for not submitting [the truck driver’s] sudden emergency instruction request was that there was no evidence that [the driver] failed to act reasonably in response to the sudden emergency.”

They added, “This verdict defies common sense. This case has become a poster child for the ever-increasing and overexpansive liability now confronting the trucking industry. ”

Werner’s appellate brief said the accident’s investigating officer testified that “this was truly an accident,” that the driver “didn’t do anything wrong,” and that there was nothing he could have done to avoid the collision.

“We are looking for every opportunity to communicate our concerns over the current judicial civil environment today when it comes to these lawsuits,” TXTA CEO John Esparza said. “This is one of the early nuclear verdicts that shows everything that’s wrong with the system in Texas today. It is a living example of what’s wrong with the environment today.”

He added, “This is how you lose an industry. This is how people look at trucking and think one thing — and that becomes the narrative.”

Werner ranks No. 17 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America and No. 34 on the TT Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies.