CVN screenshot of defense attorney David Strain delivering his closing argument
Dallas, TX - A Texas jury sided with the state’s Department of Transportation on Tuesday in a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from a fatal single-vehicle highway crash, and the full trial was recorded gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
The Dallas County jury rejected allegations from the family of Timothy Rush that a damaged piece of highway safety equipment called a crash cushion contributed to his death in 2021. Rush, 34 at the time, died after driving into the collapsed cushion, also known as a traffic attenuator, which his surviving widow and daughter claim could have saved his life had it been swapped out for new unit.
TX DOT successfully argued jurors should reject the plaintiffs request for $2.2 million in economic damages and an unspecified amount of non-economic damages, maintaining Rush was responsible for the accident and that DOT learned of the damaged cushion too soon before the crash occurred to replace it.
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The accident occurred on I-35, when Rush unsuccessfully attempted to re-merge with lefthand traffic after briefly exiting the highway. His attorney, Neal Flagg, argued Rush faced a split second decision of colliding with other cars and causing additional accidents or driving into the collapsed crash cushion. Crash cushions are meant to diffuse the kinetic impact of a collision with stationary highway equipment.
Flagg explained that 11 days prior to the crash the DOT received notice of the damaged cushion, and he suggested their own guidelines called for it to be immediately repaired and a warning visible to drivers affixed in the interim.
However David Strain, representing TX DOT, explained repair requests go out to a contractor who has discretion to prioritize projects that need to be completed within a set time period and can’t be done simultaneously.
Strain also suggested that while Rush was blocked by traffic on his left side that he still had the option of re-existing the highway.
Attorneys for the parties did not respond to requests for comment.
The trial took place before Judge Martin Hoffman.
The case is captioned Rush, et al. v. Texas Department of Transportation, case number DC-21-14795.
E-mail David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com
