Kim Smith Arizona Daily Star Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Monday, September 5, 2011
A Pima County jury has awarded $3.25 million to a Texas family rear-ended by a Tucson truck driver in Oklahoma in June 2008.
Larry Hoepner, a semi-truck driver for Logix Transportation, was traveling between 55 and 72 mph when he ran into three cars stopped in a construction zone, said Tucson attorney John Leader.
Holli Smith, an Oklahoma City mother of two, was in the first car and died. Five members of the Spitzer family, who were on their way from Texas to South Dakota for a family reunion, were in the second car, and all sustained back injuries, Leader said.
The crash occurred in Purcell, about 40 miles south of Oklahoma City.
In August 2009, Thomas J. Henry, a Corpus Christi lawyer, Leader and Tony Wiggins, another Tucson attorney, filed suit on behalf of the Spitzers, three of whom required back surgeries. The family is from Corpus Christi, Texas.
Logix Transportation admitted fault and assumed full responsibility for the crash three weeks ago and agreed to let a Pima County jury determine damages.
On Aug. 26, after six days of trial before Pima County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Lee, the jury awarded Frances Spitzer $1.5 million, her husband, Darrell, $1 million, and split the rest between her brother-in-law and sisters-in-law, Leader said.
Hoepner still works for Logix, a Minnesota company, Leader said
Kendall Steele, the Phoenix attorney who represented Hoepner and Logix, did not return a call seeking comment.
