Tollway Settlement of Deadly Ice Storm Pileup Lawsuit Sets Stage for FedEx Trial

Stephens Law: Illegal double-brokering placed untrained driver behind wheel of unauthorized 18-wheeler

FORT WORTH, Texas, April 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The owner and operator of the North Texas Express TEXpress tollway has reached a settlement with the family of a young mother who died when her vehicle was crushed by an 18-wheeler in a multi-vehicle pileup on Interstate 35W during a February 2021 ice storm.

The April 15, 2025, confidential settlement by Cintra US and its subsidiaries and related parties clears the way for a July 21, 2025, trial involving FedEx Corp. and other trucking and transportation industry defendants. According to the lawsuit, their actions placed an untrained driver behind the wheel of an unauthorized tractor trailer that plowed into the pileup at highway speed. One of the worst pileups in U.S. automotive history, the crash occurred during a widely predicted ice storm and involved more than 130 vehicles.

The settlement was announced by Fort Worth attorney Jason Stephens of Stephens Law, who is a leader of the consolidated lawsuits related to the pileup. Mr. Stephens represents the family of Tiffany Gerred, who died when her vehicle was crushed by a FedEx truck as she tried to escape from the wreckage. Her July 21 trial will be the first to be heard by a jury.

"The Gerred family and I are very pleased to have resolved this part of the case," said Mr. Stephens. "While we believe the Toll Road certainly played a part in this tragedy, there is no question that the 18-wheeler is what killed Tiffany. Six people died that day and all six were hit by 18-wheelers who simply should not have been on the road and were certainly traveling too fast for the icy conditions."

Stephens added, "There is zero doubt that Tiffany would be here today — she would be here with her family, with her daughter, with her parents and her four brothers — but for the fact of that 18-wheeler that rear-ended her as she was literally attempting to open the door of her vehicle to get out to escape."

The lawsuit is shining a light on a prolific but prohibited trucking industry practice known as double-brokering in which one trucking company contracts to haul a load and then subcontracts the load to another motor carrier. This prohibited practice often results in unvetted, unsafe motor carriers and unqualified drivers hauling the loads.

Sworn deposition testimony from the lawsuit has revealed:

• FedEx lacked procedures to verify whether a truck driver picking up a load was authorized and approved by FedEx, whether the vehicle had a valid DOT number, or whether the driver was a safe driver or even had a legitimate commercial driver's license. A security manager for FedEx's Hub where the trip originated testified that the company's lack of oversight poses not just a public safety risk but a national security threat.
• The truck driver, a Haitian national, had crashed another 18-wheeler in icy conditions just two months earlier. He worked for Simon Express, a carrier linked to a Russian-speaking Uzbekistani and operated remotely from Uzbekistan using fake names on legal documents. The company falsified the driver's road test and logs and had been recently warned by the FMCSA for unsafe driving.
• The driver of the 18-wheeler was traveling more than 65 miles per hour after ignoring five billboard-sized signs warning that "Icy Conditions Exist" in the five miles prior to slamming into Tiffany Gerred's small passenger car.

The case is Juan Gerred and Cindy Gerred, Individually, as Representatives of the Estate of Tiffany Gerred, Deceased, et al. v. FedEx Ground Package System Inc. et al., Cause No. 352-327055-21, in the 352^nd District Court of Tarrant County.

SOURCE Stephens Law