Hartline Barger Obtains Summary Judgment Dismissing All Claims in Personal Injury Case

On February 28, 2020, Judge Gena Slaughter of the 191st District Court of Dallas County, Texas, granted Hartline Barger’s summary judgment dismissing all claims against a food services company in a personal injury case.

The case arose from an alleged December 26, 2015 accident on Texas Christian University’s Fort Worth, Texas campus. Plaintiff, a man employed in transporting dishware in connection with a TCU football game, was injured when an automated loading ramp lowered and shifted a small vehicle onto Plaintiff’s foot, which caused Plaintiff to suffer a ruptured Achilles tendon. Plaintiff alleged that Hartline Barger’s client was negligent because it instructed Plaintiff to use a smaller vehicle to move the dishware instead of a full-size truck. Hartline Barger countered by arguing that even assuming its client asked Plaintiff to use the smaller vehicle, they did not tell him to use the ramp in combination with that vehicle, and therefore Plaintiff was responsible for his own injuries.