Grimes County business, driver ordered to pay $41 million in DWI injury case

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - In a striking legal victory, Daniel Stark Injury Lawyers has successfully obtained a jury verdict of $41 million in damages on behalf of their clients, a married couple catastrophically injured in a collision caused by a drunk driver.

The wreck occurred on December 19, 2019, when DPS troopers say Roger Landry was so intoxicated, he blacked out while driving a company truck, blew through a stop sign, and slammed into another pickup nearly killing the couple inside. It happened in Limestone County on FM 39 at SH 164.

Thanks to the swift and exceptional care provided by local medical authorities, including life-saving emergency surgeries, the plaintiffs were able to survive their critical injuries. However, both individuals required months of medical care and assistance for their daily activities.

“The wife suffered an aortic dissection, literally tore the main artery in her heart. She had a lacerated colon, tore her small intestine, multiple broken ribs, broken sacrum. I mean, just catastrophic,” said Daniel Stark Law Attorney and Partner Jonathan Stark. “The husband’s injuries were also catastrophic. He suffered a broken humerus which was shoved up into his neck, tearing all of the nerves, arteries, the muscle and so he also had to go undergo multiple emergency surgeries to stabilize his arm and just try to save it.”

Their conditions were so severe that they could no longer care for themselves or each other and required dedicated family members to oversee their individual care.

Landry was on his way back to a company yard in Grimes County from a remote job site and was in a company-owned vehicle when the collision occurred.

Attorneys say evidence presented to the jury proved the company, QA Services LLC in Bedias, was in violation of multiple safety policies.

“This driver had a past history that would have made him ineligible for driving for the company if they did a background check, and then even within the time frame the company was employing him, the owner of the company bailed him out of jail multiple times for alcohol-related offenses within six months prior to the wreck,” said Daniel Stark Law Chief Litigation Officer Christopher Carver.

“The owner literally three months before this wreck bailed the driver out of jail for DWI and the evidence that the jury heard was that he took him from the jail to the company yard, where he put him in a truck and put him back on the road the day after the DWI, and so I think the jury in this case really understood that with regard to this driver and this company, it was never a question of if, only when,” said Stark.

The couple asked that their names not be publicly shared, but attorneys say with this $41 million dollar verdict, the jury made it clear that drunk driving is not acceptable in its community.

“Although this time, our clients were affected, the victims could have been anybody. When an intoxicated driver drinks to the point of passing out, a wreck can happen to anyone on the road,” said Stark. “Our clients are fantastic people who didn’t ask for this. The jury wanted to make sure that the plaintiffs were heard and their verdict identified the full value of their losses.”

In addition to the civil case, Landry was also found guilty in a criminal trial. The 38-year-old was found guilty of two charges of intoxication assault with a motor vehicle resulting in serious bodily injury and sentenced to seven years on each count.

He’ll be up for parole next year.

Attempts to reach a representative for QA Services LLC for comment were not successful.

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