CORPUS CHRISTI - A lawsuit brought by a trucker who fell asleep at the wheel and crashed has settled while the case was up on appeal.
Court records show Lauro and Irene Lozano filed suit against JNM Express, ANCA Transport, Omega Freight Logistics and Jorge and Silva Marin, alleging negligence and gross negligence.
According to the defendants’ appeal brief, Lauro injured himself when he fell asleep and crashed while driving an 18- wheel tractor-trailer. They assert Lozano falsified his logs and that he claimed Marin “made him” do it and kept pushing him to drive.
Following a three day trial, the jury found each entity negligent and grossly negligent. The jury also found Marin and Silva responsible for each entity’s conduct, awarding $3,880,006.34 to Lozano and $1,125,000 to Irene.
In a bifurcated proceeding, the jury awarded the Lozanos $75 million in exemplary damages – $25 million against each entity.
The trial court reduced the exemplary damages to $2,910,012.68, court records show.
The defendants appealed, and the 13th Court of Appeals issued an opinion July 3 stating that the parties have settled.
“According to the motion for disposition, the parties have negotiated a settlement agreement resolving the issues in this appeal, the settlement agreement has been finalized, and the parties have agreed to a disposition of this appeal,” the opinion states. “Specifically, the parties ask the Court to: (1) reverse the trial court’s judgment dated July 29, 2019; (2) render judgment dismissing all claims by all parties with prejudice to the refiling of same; and (3) order that each party bear their own costs of the appeal.
“The Court, having examined and fully considered the motion for disposition, is of the opinion that it should be granted.”
Appeals case No. 13-19-00374-CV
