TEXARKANA, Ark. - A federal judge in Texarkana dismissed this month a wrongful death suit filed on behalf of the widow of a man who was killed when his car was struck as it drove in a funeral procession in Miller County in 2018.
Linda Watson and her husband, 81-year-old Royce Sidney Watson, were among a line of cars April 16, 2018, traveling from a funeral in Nash, Texas, to a graveside service in Texarkana, Ark., according to court records. Up until the group reached the Arkansas state line, the cars were escorted by a Texarkana, Texas, officer.
"After crossing into Arkansas, there was no Arkansas police escort present, so the funeral director led the procession in a vehicle equipped with activated 'white on blue' colored strobe lights and emergency flashers. Two other vehicles provided by the funeral home were also part of the procession and were equipped with the same colored strobe lights and emergency flashers," U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey's opinion states. "Two other vehicles provided by the funeral home were also part of the procession and were equipped with the same colored strobe lights and emergency flashers."
As the Watsons' car traveled in the procession, it proceeded on Old Post Road through an intersection with North Rondo Road/Highway 237.
"A stop sign governs eastbound traffic on Old Post Road. No stop sign governs free-flowing, southbound traffic on North Rondo Road," the opinion states.
Traveling along the highway with no stop sign was Jason Ray Alexander in a Southwest Arkansas Electrical Cooperative truck. The Watsons' car did not stop at the stop sign and Alexander's truck struck it in the intersection. Linda and Royce Watson were both transported via ambulance to a Texarkana hospital where Royce Watson was pronounced dead.
In November 2018, Linda Watson individually and David Watson, as administrator of Royce Watson's estate, filed suit against Alexander and his employer, Southwest Arkansas Electrical Cooperative, for wrongful death in the Texarkana Division of the Western District of Arkansas. Earlier this month, Hickey sided with the defense and granted a motion putting an end to the case.
Hickey's opinion notes that Arkansas law gives a funeral procession the right-of-way but requires that the procession be led by an escort vehicle with "flashing, rotating, or oscillating purple lights," unlike the "whitish blue" strobe lights on the funeral director's car. Because Hickey found that the lights used to identify the line of cars as a funeral procession did not comport with the law, she found that the Watsons were not traveling as part of a funeral procession and should have stopped at the stop sign and yielded to the highway traffic.
Hickey also rejected an argument by the plaintiffs that Alexander was negligent because his employer requires that he drive more cautiously than the law requires. Hickey cited Arkansas law, which states that a legal duty cannot be created by a company's policy, only by the law.
Hickey's ruling places blame for the collision on Royce Watson.
The plaintiffs are represented by Jim Wyly and Sean Rommel of Texarkana. The defendants are represented by James Baker and Kimberly Young of Little Rock law firm Friday, Eldredge and Clark.