A DeWitt County jury delivered a post-apportioned award of more than $20 million to the driver of a pickup truck who was paralyzed after a tractor-trailer turned into his vehicle, ejecting him and two other passengers.

The same jury also awarded one of those passengers $1.8 million in post-apportionment damages. 

Donald Kidd, the lead attorney for the driver of the pickup truck, said lawyers for the defendant driver and his employer, Stallion Production Services, maintained throughout the trial that the trucker had turned on his signal before turning, despite the testimony of all five people in the pickup that he had not done so.

“They told the jury that [plaintiff Lloyd Kulik] made a conscious decision to pass an 18-wheeler that had its left turn signal on,” Kidd said.

“They maintained that an 18-wheeler driver had no obligation to look in his rearview mirror when he turned the signal on,” Kidd said.

“Of course, that's not what the law says,” said Kidd, who tried the case with partner Jim Perdue Jr. and associate Adam Blake of Houston's Perdue & Kidd. They were assisted by Errol John Dietze, Ray Reese and Johnny Dietze of Dietz & Reese. 

Another issue at trial was whether the plaintiffs were wearing their seat belts.  

The co-plaintiff, Atreyu Muniz, is represented by Pat Beam of Webb Cason in Corpus Christi and Michael Sheppard of Cuero's Crain & Sheppard. Beam did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. 

Stallion, an energy services supplier, is represented by H. Dwayne Newton, R.L. “Pete” McKinney and Jon McNeeley of Newton, Jones & Spaeth in Houston.

In an emailed statement, Newton said “Stallion is currently reviewing the Jury's verdict and evaluating its available post-trial and appellate options.

“While it appreciates the difficult task any jury is presented with when sitting in a significant and emotional case such as this one, we believe that there was significant error in the trial,” it said. “This error will be presented to Judge Bell, and if necessary, an appellate panel.”

 Stallion “is, and always has been, committed to operating a safe and responsible oilfield business, complying with all state and federal regulations,” the statement said.

According to Kidd and court filings, Stallion driver Rodney Simmons was taking a tanker of wastewater to a disposal pond at about 11:30 p.m. in March 2017 when the crash happened on a two-lane road near Yorktown. 

“He'd only been working for Stallion about two weeks, and he'd only been to this pond twice at night,” Kidd said. 

Although the semi was equipped with a GPS guidance system, Simmons “chose not to use that. He was looking for reflectors on a culvert so he'd know where to turn,” Kidd said. 

“He never looked in his rearview mirrors,” said Kidd, and so never saw the Dodge pickup coming up behind him.

Kulick was just passing the semi on the left when it turned, the front of the cab striking the right rear door. The pickup rolled five times, ejecting Kulik, Muniz and a female passenger.

“Everybody in the pickup said they didn't see any signal,” Kidd said. 

Kulik, then 35, suffered a burst fracture to the spine among other injuries, and is now a quadriplegic.

Simmons was not cited.

All of the passengers sued Stallion in DeWitt County District Court, and the company settled with the other three passengers after mediation in February, he said. 

“Stallion chose not to make any meaningful offers to us,” Kidd said, and the case went to trial on July 8 before 267th District Court Judge Robert Bell.

Kidd said key experts during the two-and-a-half-week trial included Philadelphia biomechanist Brain Benda, accident reconstructionist Cam Cope of Montgomery, Texas, and life care planner David Altman of San Antonio. 

He said the defense's biomechanical expert, Deborah Marth of Carleton, Michigan, testified that Kulik's injuries appeared to have happened outside the vehicle after he was ejected. 

On Tuesday, the jury took about six hours to award Kulik just over $40 million in damages, but it apportioned half the liability to him. 

The panel awarded Muniz more than $4.4 million, but it allocated 10% of the liability to him and split the remainder between Stallion and Kulik, for a total of $1.8 million.

Kidd said his team spoke to some of the jurors afterward.  

“They just weren't buying what Stallion was selling,” he said. “But they did think Mr. Kulik bore some responsibility, that's why they gave him 50% of the blame.”