In late June, Katherine McGibbon filed suit against Mostyn, accusing the plaintiff’s attorney of speeding and rear-ending her vehicle so violently that he caused it to roll over side-to-side five times.
The petition was originally filed through Houston attorney Diane St. Yves.
On Sept. 30 Steven Kherkher, a partner at Williams Kherkher, was brought in as co-counsel for McGibbon, court records show.
Williams Kherkher is the firm of John Eddie Williams, an asbestos lawyer and one of the “Tobacco Five” attorneys who shared a $3.3 billion tobacco fee.
On Aug. 16 McGibbon amended her petition to allege Mostyn was “racing another vehicle in the outside northbound lane of Highway 59” when the collision occurred.
A month later, Mostyn filed an amended answer on Sept. 30, seeking to designate “John Doe” as a responsible third party.
Doe, who was driving a white Camaro, “attempted to provoke” Mostyn into a highway race, the answer claims.
“While accelerating quickly, John Doe’s Camaro entered into … (Mostyn’s) lane, endangering (him) and potentially causing an accident,” the answer states. “Defendant took evasive action to avoid the accident with the Camaro.
“In doing so, Defendant struck the rear of Plaintiff’s Nissan Sentra.”
A crash report retrieved from TxDOT shows that Mostyn, founder of the Mostyn Law Firm in Houston, was driving a 2016 Ferrari, color white, at the time of the collision.
The report, written up by the Houston Police Department, charged him with having no insurance and changing lanes when unsafe.
In her amended petition, McGibbon also says she is the sole provider for a special needs child and two other children and has been unable to care for her special needs child in the same manner she used to since the collision.
“In addition, Plaintiff’s injuries will result in future incapacitation which will interfere with her ability to continue working on a full-time basis and to care for her special-needs child and other children in the future,” the petition states.
McGibbon claims she now suffers from severe emotional trauma and experiences post-traumatic stress disorder and asserts her injuries are a result of Mostyn’s gross negligence, entitling her to exemplary damages.
Mostyn’s original answer, filed on Aug. 1, asserted a general denial and pleaded further “that any award of punitive damages is arbitrary, unreasonable, (and) excessive.”
The answer further stated an award of punitive damages would be “in violation of (Mostyn’s) right to due process of law and equal protection of the law under the Fifth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and Article 1, Sections 13 and 19 of the Texas Constitution.”
Mostyn is represented by Bart Basden, attorney for the Sugar Land law firm Johanson & Fairless.
Harris County District Court case No. 2016-42886