Big Tex Trailer Pays Following Fatal Rollover

The surviving wife, adult children, and mother of a 68-year-old Houston man killed when a pickup towing a trailer rolled over are receiving compensation from Big Tex Trailer. The compensation concludes a lawsuit brought on the family’s behalf by Rob Ammons in which it was claimed that defective assembly of the trailer’s braking system was cited as the reason for the fatal crash.

The rollover occurred after the pickup’s driver, pulling a loaded trailer on a wet Georgia roadway, lost control in a curve and struck a guardrail.

According to Ammons, it was later discovered that the trailer’s front axle brakes were not operative at the time of the crash because certain wires had not been connected. Ammons contended that, while downloaded data from the pickup shows that its driver had applied the brakes, the reduced braking ability of the trailer directly resulted in an inability of the truck-trailer combination to slow down. The pickup hit the guardrail at a high speed after which it rolled over. The man who lost his life was the front passenger and was properly wearing his seat belt. He suffered a fractured skull and severed brainstem in the crash.

In addition to enormous human damages from the loss of their husband, father, and son, the surviving family and the man’s estate suffered economic damages. An economist placed the present value of the man’s lost pension earnings, much of which would have been used to support his family, at nearly a million dollars.