Sons claim mother fatally hit by truck at Conroe car wash, blame business's cleaning system

HOUSTON - The estate of a woman who was fatally hit by a pickup truck at a Conroe car wash earlier this year seeks wrongful death damages.

Lothar Oliver Wirth Gonzalez and Karl Heinz Erich Wirth Gonzalez, sons of the late Juana Bethuel Gonzalez y Macias, filed a lawsuit against DRB Systems Inc. and Montgomery resident Donald Husk in Montgomery County District Court after their mother's January death, but the litigation was transferred to Houston federal court on Aug. 7.

Lorena Mayela Mier Davalos, the wife of Lothar Gonzalez, is also a plaintiff in the case.

The complainants seek more than $1 million.

The suit explains that Lothar Gonzalez, Davalos and his mother were at Suds Grand Prix Car Wash on Jan. 19 when one of the business's employees drove a black 2007 black F Series Ford pickup truck belonging to Husk onto the conveyor belt of the car washing system manufactured, assembled and installed by DRB and exited the vehicle.

According to the complainants, the worker failed to turn the truck's engine off as well as negligently placed the vehicle in drive, causing it to move through the system without a driver occupant toward them.

Lothar Gonzalez and his wife say they were "barely able to extricate themselves" from the path of the truck, but they witnessed it strike the decedent.

They blame DRB for not creating adequate sensory devices that would prohibit a vehicle from exiting the car wash system on its own.

Attorney Michael L. Atkinson of Atkinson & Associates PC in Conroe is representing the plaintiffs.

Case No. 4:13-CV-2298