Trucking Crash

Mar 01, 2013

OUTCOME: Jury Verdict

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/m-verdict-in-death-suit-could-be-new-mexico-record/article_ae2d5ecd-688c-5441-b5d8-3319f5d30c30.html A Santa Fe jury has awarded what’s believed to ... be the largest verdict in New Mexico history to the family of a man killed three years ago when a semi truck slammed into his car near Carlsbad. The jury early Wednesday afternoon awarded Kevin Udy’s wife and children $58.5 million in damages — $47 million of it in punitive damages. Bill Robins, the lead trial attorney for Udy’s estate, said the punitive damages were assessed against Standard E&S, Zia Transport and Bergstein Enterprises because the jury agreed that the firms’ truck driver, Monte Lyons of Carlsbad, had been inadequately trained, and that the firms had a record of past safety violations. He said Bergstein Enterprises, the company responsible for the safety of the other firms, is run by Peter Bergstein of Lubbock, Texas. Udy, a senior mechanical engineer for Intrepid Potash, was killed March 3, 2010, when his westbound pickup was hit by Lyons’ eastbound tanker trailer as it turned into the Standard E&S shop about three miles east of Carlsbad. Lyons “was hauling produced water from oil wells,” Robins said. “He just dropped off his last load and was coming back to the E&S shop and was turning into their driveway and cut right out in front of [Udy].” The trial was held in Santa Fe because Santa Fe Trust, an independent trust company, was named as the personal representative of Udy’s estate for the wrongful-death lawsuit. Udy’s wife, Susan, has moved back to her home state of Utah, and their five children are scattered around the country, Robins said. State District Judge Raymond Ortiz began jury selection March 11, and the jury began deliberations Tuesday. The jury broke down the $11.5 million in actual damages, assessing Lyons 1 percent of the total, Standard E&S 20 percent, Zia Transport 9 percent and Bergstein Enterprises 70 percent. As for the $47 million in punitive damages, the jury assessed Standard E&S $28 million, Zia Transport $5 million and Bergstein Enterprises $14 million. The jury also released a statement after rendering a verdict. “Our hope is that our judgment will clearly communicate that we expect a much higher standard of safety and training in the trucking industry,” it said, according to a transcript of the proceedings. “To the family, we understand that there is no way to put a monetary value on a human life. We trust that Kevin’s children will remember their father, will continue to live their lives in a manner that will honor his memory.” Robins said the jury “sent a clear message to the trucking industry, and the oil and gas industry in particular, that those companies who choose not to follow safety rules, and who place profits over human life, will be held accountable for the harm that they cause. On behalf of the family, our hope is that the jury’s message will save lives in New Mexico and elsewhere, so that others will not have to suffer the tremendous loss that the Udy family has suffered and continues to suffer.” Robins said he believes the $58.5 million verdict is the state’s largest because the Albuquerque Journal reported in 2007 that a $54 million verdict against an Albuquerque nursing home was the state’s largest verdict at that time. Robins was assisted in the case by Salt Lake City attorneys George Waddoups and Brad DeBry. Albuquerque attorney Randal W. Roberts, who represented the defendants in the case, did not return a message seeking comment on the verdict.