$35 Million Settlement for the Family of a Fort Worth Mother Killed by a Ben E. Keith Truck Driver

On the night of September 11, 2023, Susana Longoria was driving north on Interstate 35W through Fort Worth when her Chrysler struck the center median and came to rest, disabled, on the left side of the highway. The time was about 9:15 p.m. Other drivers pulled over to help her. While people were out of their cars on the shoulder, an 18-wheeler traveling in the far left lane slammed into the stopped vehicles.

Longoria, 31, was killed at the scene. She was raising a 9-year-old daughter on her own and was taking classes to become a nurse. Three other people died in the same pileup: Chase Mapes, 25; Jasmine Jones, 21; and Kiara Barker, 23. Several more were critically hurt. The medical examiner listed blunt force injuries as the cause of death.

The truck belonged to Ben E. Keith, the Fort Worth food and beverage distributor. That stretch of I-35W carries posted "No Trucks in Left Lane" signs. According to the family's lawyers at Zehl & Associates, the company's driver, Larry Czaplinski, was in that prohibited left lane in the seconds before the crash.

Longoria's family hired Ryan Zehl. The firm said its investigation found that the driver had an app open on his company-issued phone at the moment of impact, and that engine data showed he never applied his brakes. The firm also said Ben E. Keith had pulled the dash cameras out of its roughly 2,000-truck fleet before the crash, leaving no in-cab video, and had put the driver on the road at night despite his untreated sleep apnea. A distracted-driving expert retained by the firm concluded the driver was not watching the road.

The case settled for $35 million for the Longoria family before it reached a jury, so there was no verdict to appeal or reduce. The firm described it as the largest single-plaintiff personal injury settlement in Fort Worth history. ALM VerdictSearch later counted the result among the top Texas settlements of 2024.