Dallas jury returns $37.5M verdict against Oncor Electric in fatal crash with truck driver

A Dallas County jury has returned a $37.5 million verdict against Oncor Electric Delivery Co. and one of its employees in a 2021 crash that killed a truck driver, the Zehl & Associates Law Firm said in a news release.

On Aug. 7, 2021, Oncor lineman Joseph Pederson was driving a Ford F-550, an Oncor service vehicle, on west Interstate 635 in Dallas, when the vehicle slammed into the back of an 18-wheeler that was being driven by Shamsher Singh, according to the release. The 18-wheeler was parked between a lane and the shoulder of the highway.

Singh was outside of the 18-wheeler, inspecting it on the passenger side by the wall of the shoulder, when he was pinned between the vehicle’s tire and the retaining wall, the release says. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Traffic video of the crash presented in the trial showed Pederson was distracted while driving and never applied his brakes before hitting the 18-wheeler, according to the release.

“The family is relieved that this case is over and that Oncor and Mr. Pederson have been held accountable for this tragedy,” said Ryan Zehl, Zehl & Associates founding partner. “As we were able to show at trial, this accident was absolutely preventable, and the jury understood that.”

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“We are very excited about the verdict,” said Matt Greenberg with Zehl & Associates. “The (Singh) family was very relieved to see that a Dallas County jury found the majority of the fault could be on the Oncor driver and not their husband and father. ... The whole lawsuit was about trying to figure out what happened to Shamsher and why this happened.”