Houston Gospel Singer Killed in Cement Truck Wreck
The family of a Houston gospel singer has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the cement truck company that dropped wet cement on the road. LaTonya Earl, 49, was among two killed in a crash after a cement truck dropped wet cement on the road.
According to the lawsuit, a cement truck owned by Lattimore Materials Corporation began spilling concrete all over Old Humble road after leaving a Campbell concrete plant. Nineteen-year-old Selvin Palacios hit the wet cement and proceeded to immediately lose control of his vehicle, perhaps because of a tire blowout. The vehicle careened across the divide and into oncoming traffic where it struck LaTonya Earl’s vehicle head-on. Both drivers were killed in the crash. Now the trucking company is facing at least one lawsuit with another distinctly possible.
Lattimore Materials Corporation
While this is only the latest tragedy, Lattimore is no stranger to wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits. The Swiss company does business all over the world but has a history of violations here in Texas. Over the past two years, Lattimore trucks have been involved in a total of 10 accidents (including the one mentioned above). Six of those occurred in 2020 alone.
The company has faced a total of 226 violations. These included failure to properly secure a load. Lattimore faced two BBB complaints. One stated that a Lattimore truck failed to properly secure a load, dumping rocks all over one driver’s brand new car. Another incident, a driver reported that they were driving when they saw vehicles in front of them attempting to swerve out of the way. The culprit was a Lattimore truck spilling rocks all over the road.
The Anatomy of a Successful Wrongful Death Lawsuit
A successful wrongful death lawsuit shows that the defendant owed a duty of care, failed to render the duty of care, and a death resulted from that failure. Here, you have a cement truck dumping wet cement on the road. This almost certainly caused a tire blowout that caused the first victim to lose control of his car and smash into the second victim. If the cement is never poured on the road, the accident never occurs, and both people are alive. This is about as open and shut a case as you can find. However, the cement company will likely try to lay some of the blame on the 19-year-old driver. They can claim that he was speeding or committing some form of negligence that reduces their own liability (without eliminating it entirely).
Attorneys for the plaintiffs will enter in Lattimore’s history of noncompliance, fatalities, and injuries, and the company could get stuck with a gross negligence standard allowing for punitive damages.
Talk to a Houston Traffic Accident Liability Attorney
If you’ve been involved in an accident with a large commercial truck, semi-truck, or tractor-trailer, call the Houston personal injury attorneys at Livingston & Flowers, P.L.L.C. today to schedule a free consultation and discuss the matter in greater detail.
Resource:
click2houston.com/news/local/2020/02/18/family-of-houston-gospel-singer-killed-in-wreck-files-wrongful-death-lawsuit-against-company-that-owns-cement-truck/
click2houston.com/news/local/2020/02/18/family-of-houston-gospel-singer-killed-in-wreck-files-wrongful-death-lawsuit-against-company-that-owns-cement-truck/
