Baytown woman seeks $2M in suit over pileup in Houston

GALVESTON - Baytown resident Shanna Pyle is suing five individuals and a business over a multi-vehicle accident last year in Houston, recent court documents say.

Pyle's lawsuit, filed Aug. 27 in Galveston County District Court, blames Pedro Ramirez and Jesse Torres of Houston, Francisco Hinojosa of Texas City, Tony Gault of Humble, Leonel Hinojosa-Gonzalez of Pasadena and Clark Freight Lines Inc. for the event in question which occurred along a stretch of Interstate 10 on June 27, 2011.

The suit shows Ramirez, who was working for Torres and Gault as well as Hinojosa and Hinojosa-Gonzalez, who are employed by Clark, each contributed to the alleged collision while traveling on the same road as the plaintiff.

According to the original petition, Pyle traveled eastbound "in a law-abiding fashion" while Ramirez, Hinojosa, Hinojosa-Gonzalez and Gault "were negligent in the operation of their vehicles."

The men "were traveling too fast for the circumstances and were not maintaining an assured clear distance from the vehicles in front of them in order to avoid a collision," the suit says.

The plaintiff states that Ramirez, who drove an 18-wheeler, failed to drive in a single lane, which caused his vehicle to jackknife.

She says she was able to bring her vehicle to a complete stop and avoided colliding with the vehicles in front of her, but "(Tony) Gault drove his vehicle into the rear of her vehicle," which was propelled into those ahead of her.

Torres and Clark are blamed for failing to properly maintain their respective vehicles and failing to properly qualify, hire, train, monitor and supervise their respective employees.

Pyle's spouse is also a plaintiff in the suit.

Consequently, the complainants seeks approximately $2 million in damages and a jury trial.

They are represented by attorney Joe K. Mitchell with The Linebaugh Law Firm P.C. in Baytown.

The case has been assigned to Galveston County 56th District Court Judge Lonnie Cox.

Case No. 12-cv-1867