Undefeated Texas Truck Accident Lawyers
Zehl & Associates is proud to announce that our undefeated trial lawyers Justin Warner and Bradford Hendrickson secured a $1.43 million recovery for our clients after a three-day trial in the 96th District Court of Tarrant County. A jury awarded the family a $1,206,562.16 verdict, nearly 10 times greater than the defendants’ initial settlement offer, plus an additional $220,000 in punitive damages against the farming company that employed the truck driver.
he Pratt family were seriously injured when a commercial grain truck improperly changed lanes, sideswiped their car in Tarrant County, Texas, sending it spinning across multiple highway lanes.
The crash left the family facing extensive medical treatment, mounting expenses, and lasting physical and emotional challenges. Over more than 16 months of treatment, their care included physical therapy, lumbar injections, and counseling for the Pratt’s child, who was terrified of driving following the crash. The combined medical expenses were over $150,000.
“Insurance companies count on families settling for less out of fear of trial,” says attorney Bradford Hendrickson. “We don’t operate that way. When they offered $265,000 the week before trial, we knew our clients were entitled to more — for their pain, for the toll this crash took, and for a family that hasn’t felt safe in a car since. We prepared our clients to take the stand at trial, presented the full weight of the evidence, and put our faith in a Tarrant County jury. They proved us right.”
Holding the Trucking Company Fully Accountable
At every stage of the legal process, we faced a trucking company attempting to hide behind Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulation (FMCSR) exemptions, avoid responsibility, and minimize the devastating impact of the crash on the Pratt family.
Because the company operated under certain farm vehicle exceptions under federal trucking regulations, it was exempt from many safety reporting and oversight requirements that apply to other commercial trucking operations. But those exemptions did not eliminate its responsibility to operate safely.
Our investigation uncovered that the company failed to establish meaningful driver training, supervision, and safety procedures, and it had previously been audited and cited by the Texas Department of Transportation.
We proved this was not simply an unavoidable accident — it was a preventable crash caused by a failure to prioritize safety.
To establish exactly how the collision occurred, we worked with one of the nation’s leading accident reconstruction experts, who walked the jury through the crash photographs and police report.
At trial, we asked the Pratt family’s treating doctors, including a board-certified pain management physician and board-certified orthopedic surgeon to explain to the jury the injuries suffered by the Pratts, including the future surgery one of them would need.
Despite every doctor, including the defendants’ retained doctor, agreeing that the Pratts were injured, the defendants and their insurance company challenged the medical care and the bills. We worked with a leading specialist in transparent billing in the medical industry to establish the medical care and its cost was necessary. The testimony and evidence presented at trial was so convincing, the defendants’ own lawyer asked the jury to award our billing specialist’s numbers as the full value of the Pratt family’s treatment.
Refusing to Accept Anything Less Than Maximum Compensation
The defendants and their insurance company repeatedly refused to offer the full compensation the Pratt family deserved for their injuries and losses. During mediation, the Defendants offered only $52,500 to settle this suit.
A neutral mediator later proposed a settlement totaling $375,000, but the defendants rejected that as “too much” for a case like this. Even shortly before trial, the defendants’ best offer remained far below the value supported by the evidence.
Rather than accept less than our clients deserved, Zehl & Associates prepared the case for trial.
The defendants and their insurance company attempted to blame Mr. Pratt for driving too close to a tractor-trailer on a highway, as well as calling a retained medical expert to challenge our clients’ treatment as unnecessary. The jury rejected those arguments, instead holding the company and its driver fully responsible, awarding $1,206,562.16 in compensation, plus an additional $220,000 in punitive damages to deter this type of behavior on Texas roads in the future.
Undefeated Texas Truck Accident Lawyers: 1-888-603-3636
With Billions and the #1 Largest Truck and 18-Wheeler Accident Verdicts & Settlements in history, our undefeated Texas Truck Accident Lawyers have consistently demonstrated that we don’t just win for truck and 18-wheeler accident victims. We set records.
If you or a loved one were injured or tragically killed in a trucking accident, call our Truck Accident Attorneys at 1-888-603-3636 or send us a confidential email through our Contact Us form.
We’ll answer all your questions, explain your rights and options, and provide you with all the information you need to decide what’s best for you and your family.
All consultations are free, and you won’t pay a dime unless we win your case.