United Rentals N. Am., Inc. v. Evans

• Decision Date: 18 August 2020
• Docket Number: No. 05-18-00665-CV,05-18-00665-CV
• Parties: UNITED RENTALS NORTH AMERICA, INC., Appellant v. Pamela EVANS, Individually and as Administrator for the Estate of Clark Brandon Davis, and Dominic Jones, Appellees
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

608 S.W.3d 449

UNITED RENTALS NORTH AMERICA, INC., Appellant
v.
Pamela EVANS, Individually and as Administrator for the Estate of Clark Brandon Davis, and Dominic Jones, Appellees

No. 05-18-00665-CV

Court of Appeals of Texas, Dallas.

Opinion Filed August 18, 2020

OPINION

Opinion by Justice Reichek

608 S.W.3d 456

Clark Brandon Davis was killed when a bridge beam collapsed on his vehicle as he was driving southbound on Interstate 35 through a construction zone near Salado, Texas. The beam fell after the bridge was struck by a northbound tractor–trailer truck carrying an oversized piece of equipment loaded by United Rentals North America, Inc.'s San Antonio facility.

Davis's mother and son, Pamela Evans and Dominic Jones, filed a wrongful death and survival action against several defendants, including the owner and driver of the tractor-trailer truck, several entities involved in the construction of the bridge over I-35, and United Rentals. Before and during trial, all defendants settled or were dismissed except United Rentals. Following a trial that lasted several days, the jury found United Rentals negligent, apportioned its responsibility for damages at 30%, and awarded $1.6 million to Jones for past and future loss of companionship/society and mental anguish; $2.7 million for past and future loss of companionship/society and mental anguish damages to Evans; and $5 million to Davis's estate for Davis's conscious pain and mental anguish prior to death. The trial court rendered judgment in accordance with the jury's verdict, reducing Evans's damages to $810,000, Jones's damages to $480,000, and the estate's damages to $1.5 million, and awarded pre- and post-judgment interest.

On appeal, United Rentals generally challenges (1) the sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury's findings on negligence and Davis's conscious pain and anguish, (2) the trial court's Batson¹ rulings, and (3) evidentiary and charge rulings related to an expert's testimony concerning the Texas Administrative Code (TAC). For the reasons set out below, we overrule all issues and affirm the trial court's judgment.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

1. Transport of the Boom Lift

United Rentals is the largest equipment rental company in the world with more than 100 branches in Texas alone. In March 2015, it was "defleeting" some locations and arranged to transport two pieces of equipment--a forklift with a boom arm and a Genie S-125 boom lift--from its branch in San Antonio to its branch in Irving, Texas, where there was a greater need. The forklift--at 8 feet, 3 inches in height--was considered an ordinary-sized load and could be transported on a flatbed trailer. The boom lift, however, was 10 feet, 1 inch in height; consequently, it was considered an "oversized" load if transported on a flatbed trailer and thus would require a permit from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. United Rentals' own internal Transportation Guide showed the maximum load height for a flatbed trailer as 8.5 feet. To transport the boom lift without a permit, it needed to be transported on a different kind of trailer with a lower deck, such as a lowboy, drop deck, or RGN trailer.

United Rentals posted the equipment for transfer with a third-party company to be bid on by brokers, who, in turn, hired a trucking company to transport each of the loads. These shipments are referred to as "brokered loads." Different companies were ultimately hired to move the equipment. Lares Trucking was hired to transport the forklift. Truckin By the Wild

608 S.W.3d 457

West, an "over-dimensional freight expert," was hired to transport the boom lift. Both loads were scheduled to be transported on the same day, March 26, 2015, to the same location, Irving, Texas.

Lares Trucking's driver, Valentin Martinez, arrived at the United Rentals office between 8 and 8:30 a.m. on March 26 with a flatbed trailer to transport the equipment. Manuel Montez, the operations manager, greeted Martinez, who spoke in "broken English" and said he was there for a "boom." According to Montez, he asked Martinez for his paperwork, but Martinez did not have any. Montez asked Martinez to contact his supervisor for a bill of lading (BOL) number. A bill of lading is required before the equipment is released and helps the United Rentals staff ensure the correct person is getting the correct equipment. Martinez tried to contact his supervisor but said his "boss" was not available.

Montez called Julie Wolfe Gainor, the region equipment manager in Weatherford, Texas, and told her that a driver was there to pick up a "boom" to take to Irving but did not have a bill of lading number.² Although the evidence showed that the term "boom" could apply to multiple pieces of equipment, including the forklift with boom arm that United Rentals was supposed to ship with Martinez, neither Montez nor Gainor sought any clarification. Gainor pulled the bills of lading and found one boom lift, the Genie S-125, leaving the San Antonio location for Irving. She printed the bill of lading for the boom lift and sent it to Montez. Gainor did not ask Montez for the name of the broker or trucking company.

Montez gave equipment associate Nick Watts the number for the boom lift for loading, and Watts loaded it onto Martinez's flatbed trailer. Although Watts was aware this piece of equipment was one of the larger pieces at United Rentals, he had "no clue" as to what constituted an oversized or over-height load for transport on a public highway. After Watts loaded the equipment on the flatbed trailer, he told Montez. Watts did not measure the load, he said, because that was the responsibility of the driver, and he did not see Martinez measure the load.

When Martinez returned to the office, he showed Montez his cell phone with the bill of lading number for the equipment he was supposed to pick up. Montez wrote the number down on the bill of lading sent by Gainor. The number provided by Martinez, 1013808, belonged to the forklift; the number on the bill of lading, 1015572, belonged to the boom lift. Although Montez knew he needed to verify that the bill of lading number corresponded to the correct equipment, he did not notice the numbers did not match. Martinez signed the bill of lading not realizing he had been given the wrong piece of equipment and, although Montez was also supposed to sign per company policy, he did not. Martinez left with the boom lift between 9 and 9:30 a.m. He did not measure the load before leaving, and although some United Rentals branches had an "over-height bar" at the exit to alert a driver and staff that a load was over height, the San Antonio branch did not. At 14 feet, 7 inches, Martinez's load was over height, meaning it required a permit that would have provided a route for him to safely transport the cargo. If the proper piece of equipment (the forklift) had been loaded, it would have had a height of 12 feet, 10 inches and no permit would have been required.

608 S.W.3d 458

At 10:45 a.m., the second driver, Bob West, arrived at the branch with a "step-deck" trailer to pick up the boom lift. A step-deck trailer sits roughly two feet lower than a standard flatbed. West showed Montez his bill of lading for the boom lift, but Montez told him he had already sent the equipment out. Montez contacted Gainor to notify her about the second driver, and she realized Martinez picked up the wrong load. Neither she nor any other United Rentals employee notified anyone. Because the forklift was going to the same location, Gainor and Montez decided to give West the forklift load to transport. According to West, based on his training, knowledge, and experience, it was a mistake by United Rentals to load the boom lift onto an ordinary flatbed trailer for transport on an interstate highway.

2. The Accident

At about 11:15 a.m., Martinez was driving north on I-35 approaching a construction zone in Salado. There were multiple signs warning that the upcoming under-construction FM 2484 bridge was low and that loads over 13 feet, 6 inches needed to exit prior to the overpass. Martinez, apparently unaware that his load was 14 feet, 7 inches, did not heed those warnings, and his load struck the bridge, which had a height of 14 feet, one-half inch. The bridge beams collapsed across the northbound and southbound lanes of the highway just as Clark Davis, driving south in a pickup truck, reached the bridge.³ Davis did not have time to react. One of the beams fell on the hood of Davis's truck, just behind the bumper. His vehicle continued to try to move forward due to inertia and the momentum of the vehicle. The engine and entire occupant compartment were displaced rearward and "crushed to a space about a foot and a half in depth." Davis suffered catastrophic injuries and died at the scene. The cause of death was multiple blunt force trauma and mechanical compression.

The Texas Department of Public Safety investigated the crash, which took several months to complete. Sgt. Stephen Bynum was co-leader of the accident investigation/accident reconstruction team and authored the subsequent report. According to the report, Martinez's trailer was loaded with an incorrect load at United Rentals, but the driver failed to measure the load and ensure compliance with height regulations. The report concluded that the crash was caused by "driver error" and identified the following three contributing factors: (1) oversize vehicle or load, (2) driver's lack of attention to the roadway, and (3) the driver, encountering a construction zone, disregarded warning signs. The report also noted that, had the correct piece of equipment been loaded on Martinez's trailer, the crash would not have occurred.

William Miller, an accident reconstructionist, testified as an expert for appellees. He reviewed the materials and investigated the case. Miller testified in detail as to how the accident occurred and the sequence of events that led to the boom lift being loaded onto Martinez's flatbed trailer.

According to...