Texas Supreme Court Reverses Nuclear Verdict Against Werner in 2014 Icy-Highway Crash
The June 27, 2025, ruling held that a pickup crossing the median, not the Werner truck, was the sole proximate cause, wiping out a 2018 jury award of nearly $90 million.
The Supreme Court of Texas on June 27, 2025, reversed one of the largest judgments ever entered against a motor carrier and ruled for Werner Enterprises and its driver, Shiraz Ali, in Werner Enterprises v. Blake, No. 23-0493.
Chief Justice Blacklock wrote the majority opinion. Justice Lehrmann did not participate, and Justice Bland, joined by Justices Boyd and Huddle, filed an opinion dissenting in part.
The crash
On the afternoon of December 30, 2014, Trey Salinas was driving an F-350 pickup eastbound on Interstate 20 near Odessa, carrying Jennifer Blake and her three children, according to the opinion. The National Weather Service had reported that freezing rain had begun, and Salinas was traveling about 50 to 60 mph when he lost control on ice, crossed the 42-foot median and collided with Ali's westbound Werner tractor-trailer. Expert testimony indicated about two seconds passed between the loss of control and the collision.
Seven-year-old Zackery Blake was killed, and 12-year-old Brianna Blake was left a permanent quadriplegic. Her mother and her 14-year-old brother, Nathan, suffered traumatic brain injuries.
The verdict
A 2018 Houston jury found Werner and Ali liable. It assigned 70% of the responsibility to Werner employees other than Ali, 14% to Ali and 16% to Salinas, and awarded Jennifer Blake $16.5 million, Nathan Blake $5 million and Brianna Blake $68,187,994. Werner described it as a $90 million verdict; Transport Topics called it a $100 million verdict. The en banc Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston affirmed.
Why the court reversed
The court held that the evidence could not show Ali's conduct was a substantial factor in causing the injuries. His truck's presence on the highway "furnished the condition that made the injuries possible, but it did not proximately cause the injuries," the court wrote. "Rather, the sole proximate cause of this accident and these injuries—the sole substantial factor to which the law permits assignment of liability—was the sudden, unexpected hurtling of the victims' vehicle into oncoming highway traffic, for which the defendants bore no responsibility."
Citing earlier Texas precedent, the court said a defendant whose involvement is a mere "happenstance of place and time" is not liable. It reversed the court of appeals and rendered judgment for Werner and Ali.
"This is a long-awaited win for Werner," said Nathan Meisgeier, Werner's president and chief legal officer. "After seven years navigating the appellate process, we are thankful the Texas Supreme Court reached the same conclusion as law enforcement – that the Werner drivers and our company did nothing wrong." He added that the company had "not and will not lose sight of the tragic loss the Blake family suffered."
What it means for drivers and fleets
The decision drew a firm line on causation in Texas: a truck driver in his own lane, faced with a vehicle that suddenly crosses a median, is not legally responsible simply for being there. For carriers, the ruling removed a judgment that had become a symbol of so-called nuclear verdicts and gave defense lawyers a high-court precedent to cite in similar crash cases. The partial dissent showed the court was not unanimous on every issue.