$58M verdict in death suit could be New Mexico record

A Santa Fe jury has awarded what’s believed to be the largest verdict in New Mexico history to the family of a man killed three years ago when a semi truck slammed into his car near Carlsbad.

The jury early Wednesday afternoon awarded Kevin Udy’s wife and children $58.5 million in damages — $47 million of it in punitive damages.

Bill Robins, the lead trial attorney for Udy’s estate, said the punitive damages were assessed against Standard E&S, Zia Transport and Bergstein Enterprises because the jury agreed that the firms’ truck driver, Monte Lyons of Carlsbad, had been inadequately trained, and that the firms had a record of past safety violations. He said Bergstein Enterprises, the company responsible for the safety of the other firms, is run by Peter Bergstein of Lubbock, Texas.

Udy, a senior mechanical engineer for Intrepid Potash, was killed March 3, 2010, when his westbound pickup was hit by Lyons’ eastbound tanker trailer as it turned into the Standard E&S shop about three miles east of Carlsbad. Lyons “was hauling produced water from oil wells,” Robins said. “He just dropped off his last load and was coming back to the E&S shop and was turning into their driveway and cut right out in front of [Udy].”

More at http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/article_ae2d5ecd-688c-5441-b5d8-3319f5d30c30.html .