Analyzing The Current Texas Truck Accident Lawsuits
Trucking companies, shippers, freight brokers, and their insurers are facing a steady wave of lawsuits across Texas, where these heinous crashes involving commercial motor vehicles killed 608 people in 2024 alone (not including 2025 and 2026). 18 of these deaths were in Bexar County according to TxDOT crash data.
Juries continue to return eight-figure verdicts against negligent carriers, while recent appellate rulings have changed how these cases are tried and who can be held responsible.
The personal injury lawyers at JRE Injury Law will address these Texas truck accident lawsuits and claims in detail.
Families of Four Women v. H-E-B, LP, et al. – Bexar County (Filed December 2025)
On November 5, 2025, a car carrying four women slowed with its hazard lights on after a flat tire on U.S. Highway 87, about 10 miles south of Dalhart. An 18-wheeler hauling H-E-B merchandise struck the car from behind, and all four women were killed.
Their families filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Bexar County District Court on December 23, 2025, naming H-E-B, two trucking companies, and the driver. The suit alleges negligent hiring and supervision and claims the driver was speeding and distracted, possibly by a cell phone. The families also asked the court to order the truck, its dashcam footage, and the driver’s phones preserved. H-E-B has said the driver worked for a third-party vendor and was not an H-E-B employee. The case is pending.
Crane v. Penske Transportation Management, LLC – Fifth Circuit (August 2026)
On December 26, 2018, a tractor-trailer headed to Laredo to pick up cargo jackknifed on Highway 202 in Bee County, crossed into oncoming traffic, and collided with Lyndon Dean Meyer’s vehicle, killing him. The load had been arranged through Penske and handed from one carrier to another before reaching the driver’s company.
A federal court in Corpus Christi initially ruled for Penske. On August 4, 2026, the Fifth Circuit reversed. It held that Penske could be treated as the driver’s statutory employer under federal trucking rules, meaning it could be held responsible for his conduct if the family proves the rest of its case. The court also held that the negligent hiring claim against Penske’s broker affiliate can proceed after the Supreme Court’s May 2026 ruling in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II. The decision does not find Penske liable, and Penske has asked the full court to rehear the case.
Jonard v. Amazon Logistics and ZBN Transport – Travis County (Filed March 2025)
Late on March 13, 2025, a ZBN Transport tractor-trailer hauling an Amazon load failed to slow for stopped traffic in a construction zone on southbound I-35 near Parmer Lane in north Austin. The crash involved 18 vehicles, killed five people, and injured 11 others. The driver was charged with five counts of intoxication manslaughter.
One injured man filed suit a week later seeking more than $100 million. He alleges negligent hiring, retention, entrustment, and training, and claims the driver had prior hours-of-service violations. A second lawsuit adds the highway construction contractor as a defendant. Amazon denies the driver was its employee or agent, and ZBN has asked the jury to divide responsibility among the parties. Both cases are pending.
Mick Family Wrongful Death Case v. OPG Logistics, LLC – Ector County (May 2026)
On January 27, 2025, an OPG Logistics 18-wheeler turned left across the path of Steffan Mick, a 29-year-old father of two, on FM 307 near Midland. Mick was killed. Jurors found the truck driver failed to yield the right-of-way and made an unsafe left turn.
The jury heard evidence that the driver had been behind the wheel for more than 12 hours and on duty for more than 15. The unanimous jury in the 244th District Court (Cause No. C25020166CV) found both the company and the driver grossly negligent and awarded $49 million. That total includes $8.5 million in exemplary damages, which are subject to Texas’s statutory cap.
Vardy v. New Prime Inc. – Dallas County (December 2025)
Christopher Vardy, 49, was killed in the 133-vehicle pileup on the I-35W TEXpress lanes in Fort Worth during the February 2021 ice storm, a crash that killed six people. The jury agreed that a New Prime driver struck Vardy while driving too fast for the icy conditions.
On December 12, 2025, the Dallas County jury (44th District Court, Cause No. DC-21-09849) awarded $44.1 million, including $20 million in exemplary damages for gross negligence. It was reported as the first case from the pileup litigation to reach a verdict, and the award may still be challenged after trial.
Werner Enterprises, Inc. v. Blake – Supreme Court of Texas (June 2025)
On an icy stretch of I-20 near Odessa in December 2014, a pickup truck lost control, crossed the 42-foot median, and struck a Werner 18-wheeler. A 7-year-old boy was killed, and his 12-year-old sister was left with permanent quadriplegia. A Harris County jury awarded roughly $90 million, and a Houston appeals court affirmed.
The Texas Supreme Court reversed 5-3 and ruled that the family recovers nothing. The court held that the truck’s presence and speed only “furnished the condition” for the crash and were not a substantial factor in causing it. The ruling makes proof of how a truck driver’s conduct actually caused a collision central to Texas trucking cases.
Gregory v. Chohan – Supreme Court of Texas (June 2023)
A New Prime driver jackknifed her 18-wheeler across highway lanes, setting off a deadly multi-vehicle pileup. The jury awarded nearly $39 million, including about $15 million in noneconomic damages to one family.
The Texas Supreme Court reversed and ordered a new trial. A plurality held that awards for mental anguish and loss of companionship must have a rational basis in the evidence. The justices also criticized arguments comparing a life to the price of a fighter jet or a famous painting. Large damages awards in Texas trucking cases now face closer review on appeal.
Common Legal Issues and Liability
Texas law gives people hurt by commercial vehicles several ways to hold companies accountable, along with rules that shape how these cases are tried:
- Respondeat superior, which makes a trucking company responsible for its driver’s negligence on the job
- Negligent hiring, training, supervision, and entrustment, which target the company’s own failures
- House Bill 19 (2021), which lets trucking companies request a two-phase trial. If the company admits the driver was on the job, evidence about its hiring and training practices can be kept out of the first phase
- Negligence claims based on violations of federal and Texas trucking safety rules, such as hours-of-service, inspection, and warning-device requirements
- Broker liability for negligently selecting unsafe carriers, now allowed after Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II
- Modified comparative fault, which bars recovery for anyone found more than 50% responsible and reduces damages for everyone else by their share of fault
- A two-year deadline to file in most cases. Claims against a government entity require formal notice within six months, or within 90 days for claims against the City of San Antonio
Talk to a San Antonio Truck Accident Lawyer Today
At JRE Injury Law, our personal injury attorneys help people hurt by 18-wheelers, delivery trucks, and company vehicles hold trucking companies and their insurers accountable. Joseph R. Echavarria, a former Bexar County prosecutor, has recovered tens of millions of dollars for injured clients.
Call (210) 272-0101 for a free case review. We serve San Antonio and South Texas, and you pay nothing unless we win.
References:
Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) Involved Crashes and Injuries by County 2024 – TxDOT
Lawsuit filed against H-E-B, others after 4 women killed in 18-wheeler crash in North Texas – KSAT
H-E-B wrongful death lawsuit over deadly Panhandle crash – KENS 5
Crane v. Penske Transportation Management, No. 25-40012 (5th Cir. Aug. 4, 2026) – Justia
Penske request for en banc hearing gets pushback from victim’s estate – FreightWaves
Court rules freight brokers can face negligent hiring suits under state law – SCOTUSblog
I-35 crash victims file lawsuit against construction company, others – KXAN
Amazon, ZBN Transport deny liability in fatal 18-vehicle I-35 crash – CBS Austin
Trucking co. hit with $49M jury verdict in West Texas – The Texas Lawbook
Jury returns verdict against trucking company, driver in deadly 2021 ice storm pileup – WFAA
Werner Enterprises, Inc. v. Blake, No. 23-0493 (Tex. June 27, 2025) – Supreme Court of Texas
Gregory v. Chohan, No. 21-0017 (Tex. June 16, 2023) – Justia
