DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF News) – A Farmers Branch family said the recent courtroom victory against a major contractor in the LBJ Express Tollway Project has given them hope.
A Dallas County jury awarded the Rodriguez family of Farmers Branch $248, 723 in damages in their case against Trinity Infrastructure on Wednesday.
Victoria Powell said she knows all too well what the Rodriquez family went through. Her house is located between Marsh Lane and Midway Road, across from Brookhaven College, just north of 635.
She said as soon as the construction started on the project started in 2011, large cracks in the foundation, ceiling and walls of her house began to emerge.
Powell said the Rodriguez family’s victory gives her hope.
“They never thought in a million years that we would unite and stand together to fight the big bad giant. They thought were stupid. They took a look at the demographic which is elderly and Hispanic and they took advantage,” she said.
Dean Gresham, one of the attorneys who represented the Rodriguez family, said they were able to win because they presented irrefutable evidence to the jury. He said there was a pivotal moment during the trial that swayed them.
“You can put a Coke can, and we did this for the jury, down in the center of the home and you can roll it one way and it will go to the south. You can roll it the other way and it will go to the north. The home is literally heaving up and down and it’s a difficult situation to live in,” he said.
The Rodriguez family can move forward but it’s still a long uphill battle for many of their neighbors.
Gresham said there are still more than 220 plaintiffs that have filed lawsuits against Trinity Infrastructure.
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