Company sued after employee involved in car accident

A Spring woman is suing a Spring-based painting company for negligence, claiming one of its unlicensed driver employees struck her car. 

Vickie Darlean Mackey, of Spring, filed suit Monday in the Harris County District Court against S&L Ruiz Painting and its employee, Ignacio C. Beristain. 

 

Mackey claims she was traveling southbound in the 26200 block of Kuykendahl Road when traffic began to slow due to a disabled vehicle off the shoulder.  The plaintiff was stopped, awaiting for oncoming traffic to pass.  

 

As the plaintiff waited, defendant Beristain, struck Mackey's 2004 Ford Expedition from behind, the suit claims. 

 

Beristain was allegedly operating a company vehicle for co-defendant S&L Ruiz at the time of the accident.  Mackey says Beristain was not licensed to drive a motor vehicle in the state of Texas and was negligent in his course of action.

 

The suit goes on to allege that S&L Ruiz Painting wrongfully entrusted its company vehicle to an unlicensed, incompetent driver. 

 

The Plaintiff is seeking damages to be determined by a jury trial in the 333rd District of the Harris County Court.

 

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed at the Harris County Courthouse. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.