A personal injury lawsuit against U-Haul and its Texas subsidiary will reach the Dallas 5th Court of Appeals on February 9th.
In April of 2008, a Texas jury awarded Talmadge Waldrip $84.25 million in damages for injuries he sustained when a U-Haul rental truck ran over him. The verdict included $63 million in punitive damages.
U-Haul International appealed the verdict, and the case will be heard by the Dallas 5th Court of Appeals next week.
Waldrip’s personal injury lawsuit stemmed from an incident that occurred on September 20, 2006. On that day, Waldrip, 74, was driving a 1988 U-Haul truck – a 26-foot “Jumbo Hauler” with 234,000 miles on the odometer.
Waldrip, who was helping his daughter move, was dropping off a load of her belongings at a warehouse he owned in a nearby town. When he arrived at the warehouse, Waldrip parked the truck on a slight incline, set the parking brake and stepped out of the vehicle.
Once he was out of the truck, it abruptly began to roll backwards, striking Waldrip and knocking him to the ground. The truck then rolled over him, dragging him about 40 feet and crushing his pelvis.
Waldrip, along with his wife and daughters, sued U-Haul, claiming the company was negligent in renting a truck to him that it knew or should have known was unsafe.
At trial, Waldrip’s attorney presented evidence that U-Haul failed to properly maintain the brake and transmission systems of its trucks. Evidence presented in the original lawsuit also showed that six other people had similar problems with the same truck.
In its defense, U-Haul argued that Waldrip likely burned out the brake by leaving it on while he was operating the vehicle. The company also argued that it could not reasonably have been aware of a problem with the parking brake before the accident occurred.
Following the verdict at trial, U-Haul issued a statement expressing its disappointment and declaring its intention to “vigorously defend this case through the appeals process.”
In its statement, U-Haul said, “The damages awarded are particularly outrageous given the circumstances of this case. While the plaintiff's injuries are extremely regrettable, the final verdict is another example of abuse of the legal system against corporate citizens in America.”
The jury’s award was later reduced to $46 million because of a Texas law that caps punitive damages.
Except for cases involving specific types of intentional criminal conduct, punitive damages in Texas civil lawsuits are limited to the greater of the following amounts:
a.) Two times the amount of economic damages plus non-economic damages up to a maximum of $750,000; or
b.) $200,000
For more on Waldrip’s personal injury lawsuit, see this article from the Allen American.
