Lawsuits Often Last Recourse for Truck Accident Victims

By Heather Siladi

Published on October 03, 2006

Four generations of the Hughes family were in the GMC Yukon on the day of the accident: Kim Hughes; her 70-year-old mother, Joyce Watkins; her 14-year-old son, Shiloh; her 17-year-old daughter, Afton, who was pregnant with twins; and her 14-month-old grandson (Afton’s son).

Ricardo Rodriguez, who was not injured in the accident, was driving east on Highway 114 in a 73,000 pound truck that was carrying a trailer full of sand for TXI Transportation Company. Mr. Rodriguez had used a fake Social Security number to obtain the Texas Commercial driver’s license, which he had for six years. His history of truck safety violations and immigration arrests had been overlooked or ignored by company officials.

Kim Hughes’ 14-month-old grandson, Jagr Royse, was the only family member who survived the crash. Ricardo Rodriguez was not ticketed, charged, or deported, nor was his fraudulently obtained driver’s license confiscated.

A civil jury later found that Mr. Rodriguez had caused the accident by crossing the center lane, and awarded $23.5 million in damages to family members of the victims, which TXI Transportation Co. appealed, claiming that Kim Hughes crossed the center line first because she was on her cell phone at the time of the accident.

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