Lucas Oil and its Co-Defendants Respond to Lawsuit Against Them

SAN ANGELO, TX — In June of this year, Willie Georgana Kenendy, wife to late San Angelo Police Department (SAPD) Sgt. Korby Kennedy, filed a lawsuit amounting to upwards of $1 million against seven defendants, for the wrongful death of Sgt. Kennedy during a parade of boats event at the 2015 Showdown in San Angelo drag boat races.

The defendants are accused of negligence for the death of Sgt. Kennedy and include the following: Larry Netherland; Thomas M. Logan and Marty Logan, both individually and as a member of the Lucas Oil Drag Boat Racing Series; Marty Logan's House of Colour, Inc.; Promod 881, LLC; Lucas Oil Products, Inc.; I-10 Race Promotions, Inc. doing business as Lucas Oil Drag Boat Racing Series AKA I-10 Race Promotions; and Cynthia Villarreal Quigley.

The lawsuit is a result of a tragic crash during the 2015 Lucas Oil drag boat races in San Angelo. On June 25, 2015, motorcycle police patrolmen were escorting a parade of racing boats headed northeast on Knickerbocker Rd. During the parade, a female driver, Cynthia Quigley, was waiting in her Nissan Rogue in a private drive on the south side of Knickerbocker to turn left, between Parkview and Johnson Street. As she waited for the parade to pass her, Larry Netherland, who was driving a truck towing a boat and trailer on behalf of Marty Logan and Lucas Oil and I-10 Race Promotions, motioned to Quigley to make a left turn. As Quigley entered Knickerbocker, and began to turn left, she pulled into the pathway of Sgt. Kennedy who was on a police motorcycle racing ahead, next to the line of speedboats, to the next intersection. The two collided and Kennedy ultimately died from his injuries. 

Now, court documents show that all of seven defendants have denied all allegations by the Plaintiff, Willie G. Kennedy. 

The Lucas Oil Product Inc. and I-10 Promotions, Inc. have exercised their legal right to require Kennedy to "prove all allegations contained in [her] Original Petition and any subsequent petitions" and have also exercised their right to deny the "allegations contained in [Kennedy's] Original Petition." Lucas Oil Product Inc. and affiliates have now required Kennedy to "prove her causes of action by a preponderance of the evidence." Furthermore, all names associated with Lucas Oil Produce, Inc. have respectfully demanded that all actions be tried before a jury. 

Thomas Marty Logan, also known as Marty Logan or Thomas M. Logan, has filed an affidavit showing that he was “not an employee, agent, or representative of Lucas Oil Drag Boat Racing Series” at the time of the accident. Furthermore, Logan asserts that he is not an “employee, agent, or representative” of Lucas Oil at the present time either.

In a Plea of Abatement, Logan also states that the “Court Defendant has been misnamed and [that the] Plaintiffs’ pleadings of the parties are defective where Defendant has no legal capacity to be sued “as a Member of Lucas Oil Drag Boat Racing Series.” Logan also denies “all material allegations of fact contained in Plaintiffs’ Original Petition and demands Plaintiffs' prove the allegations as required by law.” Logan adds that the vehicle accident that took the life of Sgt. Kennedy was either entirely or partially caused by the negligence of Quigley and Kennedy.  

Larry Netherland, who allegedly waved Cynthia Villarreal Quigley into the roadway before the fatal accident, has also generally denied all allegations made against him and demands strict proof of every material issue of fact. Netherland, according to court documents, has invoked the Doctrine of Comparative Responsibility, a partial legal defense that reduces the amount of damages that a plaintiff can recover in a negligence-based claim. This means, if two parties are equally negligent, no compensation is paid.

Netherland also asserts that the accident that caused the death of Sgt. Kennedy, was caused by "the act or omission of a separate or independent agency, not reasonably forseeable." 

In March 2016, the driver of the Nissan Rogue who allegedly pulled out and in front of Kennedy, Cynthia Villarreal Quigley, was indicted by a Tom Green County Grand Jury for the death of San Angelo Police Officer Sgt. Kennedy. According to the indictment handed down Mar. 15, Quigley, 46, of Ozona, failed to yield the right-of-way to San Angelo Police Officer Sgt. Korby Kennedy “while using a cell phone.”

Quigley, like her other co-defendants, has also denied all allegations made against her by Kennedy. Additionally, Quigley has pleaded that a discovery be conducted in accordance "with a tailored discovery control plan" and has asserted that "an award of punitive damages would violate substantive and procedural due process [to her] in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution."

Quigley also has criminal charges filed against her. Quigley's criminal trial is scheduled for Oct. 17.