Gregory v. Chohan

• Citation: 615 S.W.3d 277
• Decision Date: 30 November 2020
• Docket Number: No. 05-18-00167-CV,05-18-00167-CV
• Parties: Sarah GREGORY and New Prime, Inc., Appellants v. Jaswinder CHOHAN, Individually and as Next Friend and Natural Mother of G.K.D., H.S.D., and A.D., Minors, and as Representative of the Estate of Bhupinder Singh Deol, Darshan Singh Deol, Jagtar Kaur Deol, Guillermo Vasquez, William Vasquez, Individually and as Administrator of the Estate of Alma B. ("Belinda") Vasquez, Alma J. Perales, Individually and as Administrator of the Estate of Hector Perales and as Next Friend of Minor N.P., Appellees
• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas

615 S.W.3d 277

Sarah GREGORY and New Prime, Inc., Appellants

v.Jaswinder CHOHAN, Individually and as Next Friend and Natural Mother of G.K.D., H.S.D., and A.D., Minors, and as Representative of the Estate of Bhupinder Singh Deol, Darshan Singh Deol, Jagtar Kaur Deol, Guillermo Vasquez, William Vasquez, Individually and as Administrator of the Estate of Alma B. ("Belinda") Vasquez, Alma J. Perales, Individually and as Administrator of the Estate of Hector Perales and as Next Friend of Minor N.P., Appellees

No. 05-18-00167-CV

Court of Appeals of Texas, Dallas.

Opinion Filed November 30, 2020

EN BANC OPINION

Opinion by Justice Reichek

Sarah Gregory and New Prime, Inc. appeal a judgment awarding damages to the Estate of Bhupinder Singh Deol and his wife, children, and parents in connection with Deol's death following a multi-vehicle collision on Interstate 40 in Texas.² In twelve issues,³ Gregory and New Prime challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support various jury findings and assert instances of error in the jury charge and in the striking of designated responsible third parties. For the reasons set out below, we overrule the twelve issues presented and we affirm the trial court's judgment.

BACKGROUND ⁴

This appeal involves a multi-vehicle accident that occurred in the early morning hours of November 23, 2013, on an unlit portion of Interstate 40, after Gregory jackknifed a tractor-trailer she was driving for New Prime. Four people died, and others were injured, as a result of the accident.

The tractor-trailers and the vehicles involved in the accident were traveling east on Interstate 40 near the New Mexico–Texas state line. That portion of Interstate 40 is a four-lane highway, two lanes in each direction, with right and left shoulders, and grassy medians between the east- and west-bound lanes and between the shoulders and service roads.

As Gregory drove the New Prime tractor-trailer east on Interstate 40, she saw the brake lights of two passenger vehicles one-half mile to one mile ahead. She applied the brakes in a firm fashion and the truck slid on a patch of ice. Gregory lost control, and the tractor-trailer jackknifed across the roadway. When it finally came to rest, the cab was partially on the left shoulder with the trailer at an angle, blocking all of the left lane and half of the right lane of traffic. Gregory abandoned the truck without activating its emergency flashers or setting out any reflective triangles or flares despite instructions to do so contained in an "Accident Checklist" in the cab. She returned to the truck when she realized her co-driver, 22-year-old Aaron Ellison, was in the cab's sleeping berth.⁵ Gregory roused Ellison, and together they walked through the center median toward the westbound traffic to get to a safe area.

Soon afterwards, six tractor-trailers and two passenger vehicles crashed into or around the New Prime truck, the first being a Maryland Trucking Company tractor-trailer driven by Deol. Deol managed to maneuver his truck around the New Prime truck, but was clipped on the right rear side by a Danfreight Systems' tractor-trailer. Deol stopped his tractor-trailer on the right shoulder and the Danfreight System's tractor-trailer stopped in the grassy area between the right shoulder and the service road.

An ATG Transportation tractor-trailer then arrived. Its driver steered hard to the right to avoid the New Prime truck, overturning in the process so that the cab was on the grassy area beyond the right shoulder and the back of the trailer protruded onto the right shoulder. At that point, the accident scene appeared as follows with the New Prime tractor-trailer jackknifed, the ATG Transportation tractor-trailer on its side, the Maryland tractor-trailer on the right shoulder, and the Danfreight tractor-trailer ahead on the right grassy median.⁶

Moments later, Guillermo Vasquez, his wife Belinda, their adult son William, their adult daughter Alma Perales, Alma's husband Hector Perales, and one of the Perales' sons approached the accident scene in their Chevy van. They were traveling at approximately 30 miles per hour. As Vasquez approached the accident site, he took his foot off the pedal and steered left. The van slid and hit the New Prime truck at approximately 10 miles per hour. No one was injured in that collision. Shortly thereafter, a silver Prius going more than 70 miles per hour came upon the scene. It collided with the rear of the ATG trailer and remained on the right shoulder. Three of the Prius passengers had time to get out of the car and were attempting to extract the fourth. While they were doing so, a P&O Transportation tractor-trailer, driven by Orland Ferrer, arrived on the scene. Ferrer saw the Prius and steered left in an effort to avoid it. At that point, he saw the unlit New Prime trailer jackknifed across the road, but he could not brake quickly enough on the icy road to avoid striking the Vasquezes' van that was stopped in front of it.

After colliding with the Vasquezes' van, the P&O truck itself was then struck by two other tractor-trailers, one belonging to D.O.D. Reynolds and the other to CDO Express Diversified. All three of the tractor-trailers ended up in the center median. The final accident scene appeared as follows with the New Prime truck on the left shoulder and center median, the Prius and Vasquez van near the Maryland truck, and the Reynolds, P&O, and CDO Express trucks on the center median.

When state troopers arrived at the scene, they discovered multiple people had been killed or seriously injured, including Deol who was lying on the roadway. Accident reconstruction experts concluded that when the P&O truck struck the Vasquez van, it caused the van to roll and run over Deol, killing him.

Deol's wife, Jaswinder Chohan, individually and on behalf of her and Deol's three children, together with Deol's estate and Deol's parents, who lived with Deol's family, sued Gregory, New Prime, and others for negligence. In addition to claiming New Prime was vicariously liable for Gregory's negligence, the Deol family asserted direct claims of negligence against New Prime for negligent entrustment, supervision, and training. The Deol family settled their claims against all of the defendants other than Gregory and New Prime.

Before trial, Gregory and New Prime designated P&O Transport, ATG Transportation, Danfreight Systems, and their respective drivers as responsible third parties. The Deol family moved to strike these designations, and the trial court granted the motion. The court stated it would reconsider its ruling before submitting the case to the jury.

At trial, Gregory and New Prime requested that the trial court instruct the jury on the concepts of sudden emergency, unavoidable accident, and new and independent cause. The trial court granted Gregory and New Prime's request as to the sudden emergency instruction, but denied their request as to the unavoidable-accident and new-and-independent cause instructions. Ultimately, the trial court asked the jury to decide whether the negligence of Gregory, New Prime, the P&O driver, and Deol proximately caused Deol's death. The trial court did not ask the jury to consider any negligence on the part of ATG Transportation or Danfreight Systems. The jury answered affirmatively as to causation with respect to Gregory, New Prime, and the P&O driver, and negatively as to Deol himself. The jury apportioned responsibility for Deol's death as follows: fifty-five percent to Gregory, thirty percent to New Prime, and fifteen percent to the P&O driver.

The jury awarded almost $17 million in economic and non-economic damages to the estate and family of Deol, including $500,000 for Deol's pain and mental anguish. The trial court entered a final judgment stating, in part, the following:

At trial it was undisputed that Defendant Sarah Gregory was an employee of Defendant New Prime, Inc. d/b/a Prime, Inc., operating within the course and scope of her employment at the time of the accident. Therefore, Defendant New Prime, Inc. d/b/a Prime, Inc. is vicariously liable for the negligence of Defendant Sarah Gregory and her percentage of responsibility is attributed to Defendant New Prime, Inc. d/b/a Prime, Inc.

The judgment awarded the Deol family "actual damages in the sum of sixteen million four hundred forty-seven thousand two hundred seventy-two dollars and thirty-one cents ($16,447,272.31), reflecting settlement credits of four hundred seventy-eight thousand eight hundred thirty dollars and no cents ($478,830.00), from Defendants Sarah Gregory and New Prime, Inc. d/b/a Prime, Inc., which are jointly and severally liable for the entire amount of such sum." Gregory and New Prime then brought this appeal.

DISCUSSION

I. Sufficiency of the Evidence – Negligence

In their first issue, Gregory and New Prime assert the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to prove Gregory was negligent. Gregory and New Prime's legal sufficiency challenge requires us to view the evidence "in the light most favorable to the verdict, and indulge every reasonable inference that would support it." City of Keller v. Wilson , 168 S.W.3d 802, 822 (Tex. 2005). The evidence is legally sufficient if "more than a scintilla of evidence exists." Browning–Ferris, Inc. v. Reyna , 865 S.W.2d 925, 928 (Tex. 1993). More than a scintilla of evidence exists if the evidence furnishes some reasonable basis for differing conclusions by reasonable minds about a vital fact's existence. Litton Loan Servicing, L.P. v. Manning , 366 S.W.3d 837, 840 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2012, pet. denied). The final test for legal sufficiency must always be whether the evidence at trial would enable reasonable and fair-minded people to reach the verdict under review. Del Lago Partners, Inc. v. Smith , 307 S.W.3d 762, 770 (Tex. 2010). In reviewing Gregory and New Prime's factual-sufficiency challenge, we "consider and weigh all the evidence, and we should set aside the verdict only if it...