Clark County Jury Awards $14.1 million in Fatal Truck Accident

The family of a woman killed in a Terrible Herbst industrial truck accident has been awarded $14.1 million in a wrongful death case.  This Nevada truck accident lawsuit was filed in 2001 against three companies owned by Terrible Herbst, an outfit that operates 80 convenience stores and gas stations in Nevada.  The Clark County jury awarded the decedent’s grieving family $4.1 million in compensation and $10 million in punitive damages.

Rosa Delgado, a 58-year-old grandmother was getting into her vehicle on Freemont Street when a Terrible Herbst employee, Darwin Ray Ellison, drove his industrial truck into Ms. Delgado.  She was pinned against her car, run over, and killed.  Mr. Ellison was drunk at the time of the deadly Nevada truck accident. 

At the trial, an attorney for Terrible Herbst argued the company was not responsible for the truck accident, because Ellison had taken the company truck without permission.  The plaintiff’s attorneys argued that the company was negligent in hiring Ellison, who had a known history of alcohol abuse. 

In a criminal case, Ellison pled guilty to felony charges of driving under the influence (DUI) and homicide.  As part of a plea bargain, the prosecutors dropped an additional charge of grand theft auto.  The drunk driver was sentenced to five-to-twenty years in prison. 

Ms. Delgado’s daughter-in-law testified in the Nevada wrongful death case, describing her lost loved one as a caring woman who deserved justice because, “none of this was her fault.”