$1M lawsuit cites ‘gross negligence’ in fatal 281 wreck
Five large crosses, flowers, and solar-powered lights have been added to the memorial at the U.S. 281-Park Road 4 intersection where friends Thalia Salinas, Ruby Cruz, Jacqueline Velazco, Brianna Valadez, and Desiree Cervantez were killed in a collision. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey
A wrongful death lawsuit filed Aug. 18 in the U.S. 281 crash last month that killed five young women is seeking over $1 million for gross negligence from three parties involved, including the driver accused of causing the wreck.
Named in the civil suit are 37-year-old Williamson County man Kody Talley; his father, Charles Talley; and the elder Talley’s company, Texas Camp Horses LLC.
Kody Talley was arrested Aug. 5 and charged with five counts of manslaughter in connection with the fatal collision.
The suit, filed by families of three of the victims, accuses Talley of exhibiting “extreme risk” in his behavior leading up to the crash, when the pickup truck he was driving while towing a horse trailer collided with two cars, including the one occupied by the five women. While there is currently no public evidence that Talley was intoxicated at the time of the wreck, the suit includes that as a possibility, along with an accusation that he was traveling at an “unsafe speed” with a conscious disregard for the safety and welfare of others on the road.
The suit also accuses Talley’s father of knowingly allowing his son to operate the truck and trailer without a proper license. Also, because of previous driving under the influence convictions, the younger Talley is only allowed to drive vehicles with an ignition interlock device, which measures alcohol content on a driver’s breath and will not allow a vehicle to start if a person is over the limit. The truck Talley was driving did not have a device installed.
The third party named in the suit is Texas Camp Horses LLC, for which Kody Talley was driving at the time of the wreck.
Lifelong friends Thalia Salinas, Ruby Cruz, Jacqueline Velazco, Brianna Valadez, and Deziree Cervantez—all in their early 20s and of the Dallas/Fort Worth area—were killed in the July 25 wreck near the intersection of U.S. 281 and Park Road 4 between Burnet and Marble Falls.
The wrongful death suit was filed by the families of Salinas, Cruz, and Velazco with J. Alexander Law. The families of Valadez and Cervantez are pursuing separate legal action with other law firms.
The suit also calls for a jury trial, but no timeline is in place for when or if a civil case will be heard in court.
Talley must first deal with the separate criminal case against him, the five felony charges of manslaughter, which will likely take precedence over the civil suit.
THE FATAL COLLISION
On the early evening of July 25, Talley reportedly drove into oncoming traffic in a 2018 Dodge Ram pickup truck hauling a horse trailer while heading northbound on U.S. 281 near Park Road 4, striking two vehicles. One of those vehicles was a Mercedes SUV traveling southbound and carrying the five Dallas-area women. That vehicle flipped and caught fire, killing everyone inside. The occupants of the other vehicle, a Chevy Malibu, also traveling southbound, reportedly suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Talley was arrested on Aug. 5 on five charges of manslaughter. At the time, he was working for his father’s company, transporting several horses in the livestock trailer towed behind a truck co-owned by Charles Talley.
An affidavit filed by Texas Department of Public Safety Cpl. Jarek Stuart in the Burnet County Court At Law cited several issues surrounding the wreck. Talley:
- seemed to have accelerated straight into oncoming traffic, according to data taken from his airbag monitor;
- had two previous convictions for driving under the influence;
- was driving a truck that did not have the required ignition interlock device;
- and was not properly licensed to drive a truck and trailer at the weight he was hauling.