South Texas Jury Awards $11.27 Million After Tractor-Trailer Crosses Median on Highway 77

On a rain-soaked stretch of Highway 77 in Refugio County in 2015, Ronald Brown was driving a tractor owned by About Tyme Transport, pulling a trailer leased to RCX Solutions. Brown was on a cell phone or Bluetooth device when his rig hydroplaned across the center median and crossed into southbound traffic. Alexandro Puga was heading south in a pickup truck. The two vehicles collided head-on. Brown died at the scene.

Puga survived but his injuries were severe: burns on his left hand, fractures to his spine, pelvis, both legs, and fingers. He was still undergoing treatment more than two years after the crash. His wife, Norma Puga, also brought claims for loss of consortium.

The case presented a key liability question. RCX Solutions argued it was only a freight broker and bore no responsibility for Brown's conduct. The Law Offices of Thomas J. Henry, led by Thomas J. Henry and Richard W. Hunnicutt III, asked the jury to find that the working arrangement between Brown and RCX constituted a lease or employment relationship that made the carrier liable for its driver's negligence.

The jury agreed. After trial in the Southern District of Texas in Corpus Christi, it found RCX Solutions liable and returned a verdict of $11.27 million, which included damages for Puga's physical injuries and amounts for Norma Puga's consortium claims.

RCX Solutions appealed to the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In April 2019, a three-judge panel upheld liability but found the past consortium damages excessive under the Texas maximum-recovery rule, reducing that portion of the award. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the future consortium award of $1.8 million. Transport Topics reported that after the appellate reduction, the total judgment came to approximately $7.5 million. RCX's insurer paid $1 million; RCX was left holding $6.5 million it could not pay. The company shut down in March 2020 and its owner filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in January 2021.