GALVESTON – A Harris County man is suing a Florida-based trucking company and the Texas Department of Transportation after a one-vehicle wreck last year left him severely injured, recent court documents say.
Temple Drennan's lawsuit alleges an 18-wheeler owned by Southern Trucking Inc. collided with a bucket which the plaintiff used to repair a traffic light at the intersection of Interstate 45 and FM 519 in La Marque on Feb. 27, 2008.
Drennan claims the alleged crash violently ejected him from the bucket, causing the plaintiff to strike an aluminum trailer accompanying the truck in question.
"The plaintiff's resulting injuries were so severe that he was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital for treatment," the suit says.
The complaint faults Southern Trucking for hiring and retaining Roberto Gonzalez of Miami, the driver of the 18-wheeler. Evoking the writ of respondeat superior, it argues Gonzalez disobeyed local traffic rules and regulations at the time of the incident.
The driver was also named a defendant in the case.
The suit accuses TXDOT of failing to properly maintain the intersection.
"The Texas Department of Transportation failed to exercise ordinary care to reduce or eliminate the unreasonable risk of harm caused by a special defect of the roadway condition, which the state knew about or reasonably should have known about," it says.
Drennan says the collision rendered him physically scarred and mentally anguished.
The plaintiff adds his sudden unemployment has kept him from promptly paying for medical treatment and miscellaneous expenses including but not limited to taxi fare and auto rental.
Represented by Houston attorney Keith M. Fletcher, Drennan seeks an assortment of damages from the defendants and a jury trial.
Galveston County 10th District Court Judge David Garner is presiding over the case.
Case No. 09CV0271