The insurance company for Dallas-based Hunt Oil Company agreed to a $30 million settlement as jury selection in a personal injury case was underway in a Dallas County courtroom Wednesday, said plaintiff lawyer Brent Goudarzi.
Goudarzi, of Goudarzi & Young in Longview, and Charla Aldous of Aldous\Walker in Dallas, represent Barbara Dalby, a 53-year-old Texas woman who was injured in a crash with a Hunt Oil pickup truck in 2019.
Mikeal Crosson, the Hunt Oil employee driving the pickup, had consumed drugs and alcohol before hitting Dalby’s car on an Odessa highway, the lawyers said.
Dalby, a mother of three, underwent lumbar fusion surgery and is expected to suffer from a permanent back injury, her lawyers said. She has been unable to return to work since the crash, they added.
“This settlement on the eve of trial shows that our system of justice works when citizens are active and involved in jury duty,” Goudarzi said. Hunt’s insurance company, Chubb Insurance, “knew that they would be held accountable by a jury of Ms. Dalby’s peers and that pressure I know caused them to settle.”
The wreck occurred shortly before 10 p.m. on a Friday, just a few blocks from Fast Eddie’s Sports Tavern and Social Club, where Crosson had been drinking just before, according to court documents. Dalby was stopped at an intersection when Crosson suddenly drove into Dalby’s lane and struck her car head-on, according to the lawsuit.
Crosson filed a motion to designate Fast Eddie’s as a responsible third-party, which 116th District Court Judge Tonya Parker had granted. Fast Eddie’s did not have lawyers listed.
Hunt, in a statement provided to The Lawbook on Thursday, denied wrongdoing and placed the blame solely on Crosson.
“We have always maintained that any legal proceeding on this matter would affirm our position, and this resolution does not change that in any way,” said William Toles, of Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, who represents Hunt. “Hunt was not responsible for this incident, which was caused by a former employee acting on his own, outside of the work environment.”
Hunt terminated Crosson after the company learned of the wreck, Toles added.
Lawyers for Crosson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Goudarzi, a personal injury and wrongful death lawyer, touted the settlement as the largest he’s tracked for an operated back injury.
Hunt Oil Company was also represented by Katherine Compton of Steptoe & Johnson and Scott Zimmer of Kelly, Hart & Hallman.
Crosson was represented by Douglas Fletcher, Jeffrey Smith and Joseph Harrison of Fletcher, Farley, Shipman & Salinas.
The case is Barbara Dalby v. Hunt Oil Company and Mikeal Crosson, DC-21-11344.