Last week, Longview personal injury lawyer Nelson J. Roach won $730 million in a case arising from a Texas truck accident. It is one of the largest wrongful death verdicts in U.S. history.

The case was filed by the family of East Texas resident Toni Combest. In 2016, the 73-year-old great-grandmother was killed in a collision with an oversize-cargo truck hauling a propeller for a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine.

The accident occurred on a narrow bridge on U.S. Highway 271 in Titus County, Texas. As the truck’s driver approached the bridge, he left his authorized lane of travel and struck a vehicle driven by Combest at approximately 65 miles per hour. She died at the scene.

According to Roach, the truck’s operators bear full responsibility for the accident.

“The defendants failed to keep a lookout on the road and didn’t have a plan for safely crossing the bridge,” Roach said. “Negligent trucking companies put the lives of Texas drivers at risk.”

A founding partner of the Roach Law Firm, Roach has practiced law for over 30 years and handled the Lone Star Steel litigation, the Red River Army Depot litigation, the Freeport-McMoRan mining contamination class action, the DataTreasury patent litigation, and other huge cases.

Immunity for Trucking Companies

As the number of truck accidents rises, Roach faults Texas lawmakers for providing trucking companies with immunity from accident lawsuits.

“Texas highways get more dangerous by the day, but state lawmakers want to give big trucking companies a pass,” he said. “Earlier this year, the Texas Legislature passed a law protecting trucking companies from having to disclose evidence in accident lawsuits. Our state laws should place the safety of Texans above the profits of trucking companies.”

The case is styled Ramsey, et al. v. Landstar Ranger, Inc., et al. in the 76th/276th District Court in Mount Pleasant, Texas. Roach tried the case with Brent Goudarzi of Goudarzi & Young LLP.