Pearland man seeks $500K over Arizona auto accident

GALVESTON - Pearland resident Leroy Davenport has filed suit against Transport Corporation of America Inc. over an alleged two-vehicle accident in Arizona more than a year ago, recent court documents say.

Davenport claims in a lawsuit filed Feb. 11 in Galveston County District Court that an employee of the defendant rear-ended him along a stretch of Interstate 10 West in Wilcox, Ariz., on Oct. 6, 2011, as he tried to pull over to check a problem with his tractor-trailer.

The plaintiff was en route to Phoenix at the time, the suit states, and he was near mile marker 443.8 when his "check engine" light came on and gauges indicated his engine had heated to 250 degrees. According to the suit, Davenport turned on his hazard lights and pulled the vehicle over.

According to the suit, an 18-wheeler belonging to the defendant struck Davenport from behind as he was pulling over to the shoulder.

"The impact was so hard it bent the frame and broke the rear axle of the tanker, and the tank ended up on the cab of the defendant's vehicle," the original petition says.

It adds the force of the apparent impact "knocked the CB radio, which had been bolted down, off its mounting, hitting the plaintiff in the forehead."

Davenport says he suffered injuries to his forehead, cervical, left hip and lumbar as well as "burning" chest pain as a result of exposure to the formaldehyde he had been transporting in his trailer.

Consequently, the complainant seeks $500,000 and a jury trial.

Attorney Chad Pinkerton with The Pinkerton Law Firm PLLC in Houston is representing Davenport, and Galveston County 122nd District Court Judge John Ellisor is presiding over the case.

Case No. 13-CV-207