$30 Million Settlement for Odessa Woman After Hunt Oil Employee Hit Her Head-On While Impaired

On a Friday evening in November 2019, Barbara Dalby was driving on State Highway 191 in Odessa when a Ford F-150 owned by Hunt Oil Company crossed into her path and struck her vehicle head-on. The driver, Hunt Oil employee Mikeal Crosson, had spent time at Fast Eddie's Sports Tavern and Social Club with his Hunt Oil supervisor before getting behind the wheel, and toxicology evidence showed drugs and alcohol in his system at the time of the crash.

Dalby, then 53, suffered a severe lumbar injury that required spinal fusion surgery. The surgery left her with lasting complications, and she has not been able to return to work since the wreck. Before the crash, she had worked as a proposal specialist supporting law enforcement and military organizations.

Her attorneys, Charla Aldous of Aldous Walker in Dallas and Brent Goudarzi of Goudarzi and Young in Longview, filed suit in the 116th District Court in Dallas County under case number DC-21-11344. The suit named Hunt Oil Company and Crosson as defendants, and the court granted Crosson's motion to designate Fast Eddie's Sports Tavern as a responsible third party.

The case was three years in litigation before reaching a courtroom. As jury selection began before Judge Tonya Parker on September 25, 2024, the parties reached a $30 million settlement. Attorneys on the case described it as the largest settlement of its kind ever obtained in Dallas County for a personal-injury case of this type.

The settlement resolved Dalby's claims against Hunt Oil and Crosson. Dalby's lead counsel noted that the outcome reflected the weight jurors place on corporate responsibility when an employee causes serious harm while acting within the scope of employment.