Court records show carriage collision suit amended three times

GALVESTON -- A lawsuit over a fatal collision between a car and a horse-drawn carriage has been amended three times, recent court records show.

The estate of Bobby McKelvey revised their original petition on Aug. 1, Aug. 13 and Aug. 30 to reflect the current lineup of respondents as well as changes in his widow's condition.

The McKelveys are seeking more than $100,000 in damages after 22-year-old Galveston resident Michael Shane Grayson Jr. allegedly drove intoxicated through the streets of Galveston's East End and colliding with the carriage in which the decedent, his wife Renee and another passenger rode the night of July 21.

According to the initial complaint, the wreck in question, which occurred near 21st Street and Avenue L, injured the three riders and the carriage operator.

Bobby McKelvey, 57, died the next day.

The suit first stated Grayson and a friend reportedly finished a night of drinking at Yaga's and Tsunami, however, the second amended petition shows the pair instead visited the adjacent Lounge Nightlife Complex prior to the subject accident, prompting the former two establishments to be dropped as defendants.

Island Ventures Inc., which owns and operates the Lounge complex, was then entered as a respondent, but removed from the litigation as of the third amended petition late last month.

Grayson is now the lone defendant in the case.

Meanwhile, Renee McKelvey was reported to be out of the hospital after being confined for a month and Joe Hodson, the carriage driver, has submitted a petition in intervention Sept. 7 to sue Grayson.

Hodson claims the motorist "savagely" bit him on the forearm after the incident and that he foiled the latter's attempt to flee the scene before being transported by ambulance to the University of Texas Medical Branch where he was diagnosed with a C6 vertebra fracture.

Attorney Joseph S. "Joe" Jaworski with The Jaworski Law Firm in Galveston is representing Hodson.

Case No. 12-cv-1748