Lawsuit over crash caused by loose bull on highway settled for $1.05M

The seven-figure settlement involves two separate motorists: Robert Bryant, whose claim was settled for $900,000, and Norberto Armas, who received $150,000.

Bryant was traveling east on a frontage road of Interstate 40 in Bernalillo County "in the dark of early morning" in July 2020 when he struck a bull standing in his lane, causing his vehicle to careen through a fence and into oncoming traffic on the westbound lanes of I-40, where he crashed head-on into Armas, according to court documents.

The crash "nearly took Robert's head off," said attorney Daniel Cornish, who represented Bryant in the case.

"Robert sustained pretty severe injuries," he added. "He remains largely incapacitated, though he's making a moderate recovery. But it was a catastrophic collision."

Armas was seriously injured in the crash, court documents state. An attorney for Armas did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Kristine Mihelcic, a DOT spokeswoman, expressed the department's "deepest sympathies ... to the individuals injured and all impacted by this tragic and unfortunate incident.

"The livestock involved in the incident was not branded and the owner was never identified or located, however we recognize that loose livestock is an issue of concern to motorists in New Mexico," she said in a statement. "According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 66% of animal-involved crash deaths in 2020 resulted from a direct collision with an animal."

The case was settled a month before it was scheduled to go to trial, Cornish said.

"We were fully prepared to try the case, but I think the state analyzed their risk and decided to settle," he said, adding his theory of liability against the state was around the so-called fence-in statute.

"Essentially, the state is responsible for maintaining fencing along roadways to keep the motoring public safe from anticipated dangers, meaning livestock, domesticated animals and other hazards that may come onto the public roadways and be a hazard to the motoring public," Cornish said.

"That statute is rooted in policy to make sure that we're all kept safe from things like this that happened to Robert Bryant, and my theory at trial was going to hone in on that, that the state failed to maintain the fencing along this particular stretch of state highway, the frontage road, and therefore they were the proximate and actual cause of the bull being allowed to roam free," he added.

The lawsuit, initially filed on Armas' behalf, named a number of ranches with property "near and adjacent" to the scene of the crash as defendants.

"We named them in good faith thinking that they may have owned the bull or been responsible for the bull, but we were unable to prove that," Cornish said, adding the bull was unbranded and the owner or owners couldn't be identified.

Cornish said the cap for recoverable damages in a negligence case under the New Mexico Tort Claims Act is $750,000. But he said he "made the argument for an additional $300,000 in future medical care" to help Bryant, now 42.

"We had to pro rata [the total available settlement amount] because we have two claimants," he said. "Fortunately, Mr. Armas was not as severely injured as Robert Bryant, so Mr. Armas received $150,000 of the settlement and Mr. Bryant received $900,000."

In his eight years of practicing as a personal injury attorney, Cornish said he's seen "tons" of livestock accidents.

"They're just all over the road, and they are a real big danger, especially bulls," he said. "There's very little that a driver can do from an evasive standpoint to avoid it."

Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.

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