MARSHALL, TEXAS - A federal court jury in Marshall has ruled in favor of the USF Bestway Inc. trucking company in a lawsuit filed by a local woman who blamed the company for injuries she sustained following a 2005 accident.

The jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, returned a unanimous take-nothing verdict this morning on behalf of the company in the lawsuit filed by Vicki Dunn of Lindale, Texas.

Scottsdale, Ariz.-based USF Bestway is a subsidiary of YRC Worldwide, Inc. “This case shows that even though you may have the right-of-way, you still have an obligation to look out for obstacles in the road,” says attorney Mike Richardson of Rose•Walker, L.L.P. in Dallas, who represented USF Bestway at trial along with attorney Mitch McCrea. “The testimony showed that Ms. Dunn had plenty of time to avoid the collision, but failed to do so.”

On Dec. 16, 2005, a driver operating a USF Bestway tandem trailer was turning left into the northbound lanes of U.S. Route 69 in Tyler. Ms. Dunn, who was driving southbound, admitted that she saw the truck from 200 yards away, but still hit the rear wheel of the trailer at a speed that an eyewitness estimated to be 65 miles per hour.

That same witness testified that Ms. Dunn did not appear to have slowed down at all before she hit the USF Bestway truck. “The expert analysis shows that if Ms. Dunn simply had lifted her foot off the gas pedal when she first saw the truck, this never would have happened,” Mr. Richardson says.