Tarrant County Jury Awards $339,285 in Motor Vehicle Negligence

On February 9, 2013, a physician and family were traveling south on Highway 360 near Glade Road when their vehicle swerved to avoid a sofa in the roadway, subsequently colliding with another car. The sofa had fallen from a truck driven by a customer who had recently purchased it from a furniture store operating as The Dump. The physician claimed multiple injuries, including a torn knee meniscus, a torn rotator cuff, carpal tunnel syndrome, and the aggravation of pre-existing degenerative conditions in the neck and lower back.

The plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against the driver of the truck, the driver of the other vehicle, and The Dump, alleging negligent failure to properly secure the sofa. The driver of the other vehicle and the truck driver settled their claims with the plaintiffs prior to trial. As a result, the remaining claim at trial involved the injured physician against The Dump. The physician argued that The Dump's employees were solely responsible for securing the sofa, not the truck driver, and that the sofa falling indicated their negligence. The plaintiff's counsel also contended that security video footage provided by The Dump was altered or incomplete, suggesting it would have shown the employees solely loading and tying down the sofa.

The Dump denied negligence, asserting that the truck driver helped load the sofa and assisted in securing it. The defense also argued that the driver of the struck vehicle was negligent for failing to maintain a proper lookout or taking faulty evasive action. The trial judge denied the plaintiff's request for a spoliation instruction regarding the video footage but ordered The Dump to pay sanctions of $28,056.25 for attorney and expert witness fees related to the discovery dispute. Defense medical experts testified that the physician's injuries were pre-existing or minor and unrelated to the accident.

The jury found both The Dump and the truck driver 50% negligent. The jury awarded the physician $583,600 in damages. However, due to the truck driver's prior settlement, The Dump was held liable for $291,800 of the total damages. The final judgment against The Dump included the damages, prejudgment interest, taxable costs, and the spoliation sanctions, totaling $339,285.04. The physician plans to seek a new trial, citing the jury's failure to award non-economic damages.