Arif et al v. XPO Logistics Express, LLC et al
Filing
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MEMORANDUM AND OPINION terminating 3 . The claims for negligent supervision, training, entrustment, and maintenance against RXO are dismissed with prejudice. The plaintiffs' claim against RXO for vicarious liability remains, as do the claims against John Doe. (Signed by Judge Lee H Rosenthal) Parties notified. (gmh4)
United States District Court
Southern District of Texas
ENTERED
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
HOUSTON DIVISION
NASREEN ARIF et al.,
Plaintiff,
v.
XPO LOGISTICS, EXPRESS, LLC et al,
Defendant.
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January 27, 2025
Nathan Ochsner, Clerk
CIVIL ACTION NO. 24-4522
MEMORANDUM AND OPINION
This lawsuit arises out of a car crash that the plaintiffs allege they were involved in on
November 9, 2022, on or near the Highway 249 service road in Houston, Texas. (Docket Entry
No. 1-1 at 7). Nasreen Arif was driving, and Arif Khan was a passenger in the vehicle. (Id.). The
plaintiffs allege that the driver of an 18-wheeler vehicle owned by RXO Express, LLC was
traveling in an adjacent left turn-only lane. (Id.). As Ms. Arif began to make a left turn from her
lane, the driver of the 18-wheeler continued to travel straight ahead in the adjacent lane. (Id.). The
18-wheeler hit the plaintiffs’ vehicle. (Id.).
The driver of the 18-wheeler vehicle remains unidentified. The plaintiffs allege that the
driver, “John Doe,” was negligent, and allege that RXO failed to properly train, manage, monitor,
and supervise the driver. (Id.). The plaintiffs also allege that RXO failed to properly maintain,
inspect, monitor, and repair the 18-wheeler that collided with the plaintiffs’ car. (Id.). The
plaintiffs bring an additional claim for negligent entrustment of the 18-wheeler to John Doe, whom
the plaintiffs assert RXO knew, or should have known, to be an incompetent and reckless driver.
(Id.). Finally, the plaintiffs allege that RXO is vicariously liable for John Doe’s negligence under
respondeat superior. (Id. at 7).
The plaintiffs do not allege with specificity what, if any, injuries they suffered in the
accident, but they seek damages for past, present, and future physical pain, mental anguish,
medical expenses, physical impairment, physical disfigurement, lost wages, and loss of earning
capacity. (Id. at 7). RXO moves to dismiss the general negligence, negligent hiring, negligent
training, negligent maintenance, and negligent supervision claims. The only claim RXO does not
seek to dismiss is the claim for vicarious liability for John Doe’s actions.
Rule 12(b)(6) allows dismissal if a plaintiff fails “to state a claim upon which relief can be
granted.” FED. R. CIV. P. 12(b)(6). Rule 12(b)(6) must be read in conjunction with Rule 8(a),
which requires “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to
relief.” FED. R. CIV. P. 8(a)(2). “[A] complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as
true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678
(2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). Rule 8 “does not require
‘detailed factual allegations,’ but it demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfullyharmed-me accusation.” Id. at 678 (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555). “A claim has facial
plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable
inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. “The plausibility standard
is not akin to a ‘probability requirement,’ but it asks for more than a sheer possibility that a
defendant has acted unlawfully.” Id. (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556). “Conversely, when the
allegations in a complaint, however true, could not raise a claim of entitlement to relief, this basic
deficiency should be exposed at the point of minimum expenditure of time and money by the
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parties and the court.” Cuvillier v. Taylor, 503 F.3d 397, 401 (5th Cir. 2007) (quotation marks
omitted, alterations adopted) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 558).
RXO asserts that recovery under respondeat superior and through direct claims against
RXO based on John Doe’s actions are mutually exclusive. (Id.). In addition, RXO asserts that the
direct negligence claims should be dismissed because the plaintiffs have done no more than “label
and state conclusions as to their negligence claims” and have provided no facts to support their
contentions that RXO “breached a duty of care that they owed to Plaintiffs.” (Id. at 3).
The court agrees that the claims for negligent supervision, training, entrustment, and
maintenance should be dismissed. It is well established under Texas law that in a claim for
ordinary negligence, if a defendant company “stipulates to its vicarious liability for its employee’s
negligence, a company’s liability under respondeat superior and direct negligence are mutually
exclusive.” Nunez v. Brady’s Welding & Mach. Shop, Inc., 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 240205, at *1
(W.D. Tex. Oct. 7, 2022) (citing Rosell v. Cent. W. Motor Stages, Inc., 89 S.W.3d 643, 654 (Tex.
App.—Dallas 2002, pet. denied)). RXO admits that John Doe was in the course and scope of his
employment with RXO when the accident occurred. (Docket Entry No. 3 at 2). This precludes
“double dipping” by claiming recovery under both direct negligence and respondeat superior, as
the plaintiffs here attempt to do.
The court also agrees that the plaintiffs have failed to meet their pleading burden for the
negligent supervision, training, entrustment, and maintenance claims against RXO, providing a
separate basis to dismiss the claims. The plaintiffs have alleged only that an RXO employee was
driving an 18-wheeler truck; the plaintiffs began to make a left turn in a left turn-only lane; the
RXO employee decided to travel straight in a left turn-only lane; and that the collision occurred as
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a result. The allegations do not include facts that would indicate that RXO breached a duty to the
plaintiffs, as required for a negligence-based claim. Without more, those claims fail.
The claims for negligent supervision, training, entrustment, and maintenance against RXO
are dismissed, with prejudice. The plaintiffs’ claim against RXO for vicarious liability remains,
as do the claims against John Doe.
SIGNED on January 13, 2025, at Houston, Texas.
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Lee H. Rosenthal
United States District Judge
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