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Dallas Woman's Family Sues Company in Truck Accident
May 05, 2008

The family of a Dallas woman who was killed in a truck accident, in which a concrete truck landed on top of her SUV, has filed a lawsuit against the truck company.

Texas Industries, the company that owned the truck, has been accused by the plaintiff's attorneys of keeping a fleet of vehicles that was badly maintained.

The truck accident in question dates back to April 11 of this year. Maria Gamez, a Dallas real estate agent, was driving with her 5-year-old daughter, Angelica, on John Carpenter Freeway. A Texas Industries cement truck driven by Edward Magallan lost control and, loaded with 50,000 pounds of fresh concrete, flipped over the center median landing on top of Maria's SUV. She died instantly in the truck accident. Her daughter sitting in the passenger seat of the SUV was stuck in the car for more than two hours before emergency workers were able to extricate her. All the while fresh cement poured into the car from the overturned truck, terrifying the girl.

The truck accident lawsuit that has been filed mentions the pain and suffering that this little girl has suffered. It also claims that Texas Industries has a poor history of truck maintenance.

There's enough data in the truck accident case to show that Texas Industries does indeed have a bad record of fleet maintenance. The company itself has denied that its trucks were anything less than top notch, and the driver, Magellan was properly licensed and certified. It has never had an unsatisfactory compliance review, the company says. But ground realities are very different.

During a two-year period and over 1031 inspections, Texas Industries trucks were put out of service a total of 297 times. The nature of violations ranged from maladjusted brakes, bald tires, and defective brake lights, to broken wheel rims and improperly secured loads. In short, these vehicles were in a fit condition to cause truck accidents of this nature. Magellan himself does not have a clear record. He was cited for a drunk driving accident in 1999, and has a total of 5 convictions for failure to maintain liability insurance. There have also been convictions for speeding and disregarding traffic devices. He also had his license suspended twice.

A fleet that was poorly maintained, and a driver with a record of disobeying traffic rules, speeding and drunk driving - the perfect combination to cause a devastating truck accident. Magellan has claimed that another vehicle tried to cut him off, and that's what made him lose control of the truck. When you're driving a massive truck containing 50,000 pounds of fresh concrete, you better make sure that you have your vehicle under control. People cut other vehicles off all the time, it happens everyday. When you're out on the road with a massive machine, you make sure to take all precautions, and take all possibilities into consideration. There is no information about whether Magellan was speeding at the time of the truck accident, but if he was driving at a reasonable speed, then it would have been possible to control his truck, regardless of whether someone cut him or not.

Now there's a woman dead due to no fault of hers, and a little girl that's been terribly scarred, and will have to grow up without a mother - whose fault is that?

If you have a loved one who has been injured or killed in a truck accident, you need the help of an experienced California personal injury attorney. Contact a lawyer at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.

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