Oil Field Accident: Traffic Dangers and Fatalities Follow West Texas Oil Boom
Midland County, Texas: On December 13, 2012, Joseph Kimbrell, Jr., operating an oilfield service truck on behalf of his employer, Weaver Services, Inc., disregarded a stop sign and continued through an intersection. Mr. Overton was unable to avoid the oilfield service truck as it passed, and he struck the truck. Mr. Gonzalez, a passenger in Mr. Overton's vehicle survived the accident, but then burned to death when the vehicle caught fire.
Wigington Rumley Dunn & Blair LLP filed a suit contending that since Weaver Services, Inc. was the owner and operator of the 2008 Sterling Truck involved in the incident, and the employer of Mr. Kimbrell, Weaver Services, Inc. is vicariously responsible for the negligence of Joseph Kimbrell, Jr., based on the Respondeat Superior theory, therefore is also negligent and was a proximate cause of the injuries and death to Sergio Gonzalez.
"This accident is part of the rush to make money in the West Texas Shale play," said David Rumley, the attorney for the family. "My firm is involved in numerous tragic cases just like this horrific accident in the Eagle Ford Shale which has resulted in record numbers of workers and non-workers being killed by the irresponsible acts of companies operating in the Eagle Ford. If the prediction is true that the West Texas Shale could dwarf the Eagle Ford, then I expect to see many more of these tragic preventable incidents occurring throughout West Texas." This case settled for a confidential sum.