The suit was filed last December in Travis County, but a change of venue hearing in Austin transferred the suit to the 132nd District Court in Snyder.
Plaintiffs include Greg Franklin of Lubbock, executor of the estate of Mary Walker and on behalf of Walker’s minor son, Zachary Walker.
Walker was the Hockley County district clerk in Levelland and was passenger in an east-bound vehicle driven by Todd Etheredge, Walker’s fiancé.
The east-bond vehicle on U.S. 180 was struck the morning of April 19 by a pickup traveling north on FM 1673 that failed to observe a stop sign.
In the pickup were brothers Lance Rivers Wigley and Adam Avis Wigley, both of Salado in Bell County.
Filing the suit on their behalf are their parents, Kenneth and Patti Wigley, and Shawna Wigley, the widow of Adam Wigley.
The suit, filed by James E. Pennington of Dallas and Michael A. Wash of Austin, contends that the mishap was “due to the condition or malfunction of the stop sign or other traffic control device.”
The suit further contends that the Texas Department of Transportation had been made aware of the condition of the traffic control devices, but had failed to correct it within a reasonable time.