A Texas appeals court recently affirmed a $9.3 million judgment against the Choctaw Nation, holding it “vicariously liable” for an accident causing the deaths of Alice Stanley and Paula Hahn, passengers on a charter bus traveling to the Choctaw Casino and Resort in Durant, Oklahoma in April 2013. Stanley and Hahn were killed when the bus ran off a highway outside of Dallas, Texas, more than 80 miles from the casino.
The court noted the casino paid Cardinal Coach Line for the bus trip and worked with the trip organizer, Sue Taylor, known as Casino Sue. As the bus departed for to the casino, Taylor, who also was killed, began talking to the driver, Loyd Rieve, about the route there. State investigators determined that interaction was the cause of the accident.
Writing for the court, Justice Jason Boatright stated, “Upon examining the record in the light most favorable to the verdict, we conclude that the evidence is legally sufficient to show that Taylor, as Choctaw’s agent, exercised actual control over Cardinal and Rieve through her instructions to Rieve as he drove Cardinal’s bus.”
The $9.3 million judgment affirmed by the court was after an April 2016 jury trial. The tribe was held responsible for only 25 percent of the accident, but the judge said it had to pay “100 percent of the damages.” Cardinal, which declared bankruptcy after the accident, and Rieve reached settlements with Stanley’s and Hahn’s survivors and were not part of the jury trial.
Attorney Frank L. Branson said, “The appellate court was correct in affirming the jury’s verdict in this horrifying crash. This jury carefully listened to all of the testimony and deliberated long and hard to reach its decision. Casino operators cannot escape responsibility when they negotiate bus contracts based on the absolute lowest bid without considering the safety of their passengers.”
