DEFENDANTS’ APPENDIX TO MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDMENT Page 1

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS

DALLAS DIVISION

HAROLD OVERTON,

Plaintiff,

vs.

NAVAJO EXPRESS, INC. AND 

DAVID MATTHEW FADULE,

Defendants.

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CIVIL ACTION NO. 3:22-01770-L

DEFENDANTS’ APPENDIX TO MOTION FOR PARTIAL 

SUMMARY JUDGMENT & BRIEF IN SUPPORT

Exhibit A Excerpts from the Oral and Videotaped Deposition of Jay 

Thomas (DEF APPENDIX 0001 – 0011).

Respectfully submitted,

By: /s/ Michael D. Colvin

Zach T. Mayer

State Bar No. 24013118

zmayer@mayerllp.com

Michael D. Colvin

State Bar No. 00790489

mcolvin@mayerllp.com

MAYER LLP

750 N. Saint Paul Street, Suite 700

Dallas, Texas 75201

Telephone: 214-379-6900

Facsimile: 214-379-6939

ATTORNEYS FOR DEFENDANTS 

DAVID FADULE AND NAVAJO 

EXPRESS, INC.

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DEFENDANTS’ APPENDIX TO MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDMENT Page 2

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on November 17, 2023, a copy of this document was served 

on all parties and counsel of record via the Court’s electronic filing system. 

/s/ Michael D. Colvin

Michael Colvin

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EXHIBIT "A"

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· · · · · · · IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

· · · · · · · · · ·NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS

· · · · · · · · · · · · DALLAS DIVISION

· · ·Civil Action No. 1:22-CV-001100-H

· · ·______________________________________________________

· 

· · · · · · ·RULE 30(b)(6) VIDEOTAPE DEPOSITION OF:

· · · · · · · · · ·JAY THOMAS - July 21, 2023

· · · · · · · · · · ·Navajo Express, Inc.

· · ·______________________________________________________

· · ·HAROLD OVERTON,

· · ·Plaintiff,

· · ·v.

· · ·NAVAJO EXPRESS, INC., AND DAVID MATTHEW FADULE,

· · ·Defendants.

· · ·______________________________________________________

· 

· · · · · · · · · PURSUANT TO NOTICE, the Rule 30(b)(6)

· · ·videotape deposition of JAY THOMAS, Navajo Express,

· · ·Inc., was taken on behalf of the Plaintiff at 1001

· · ·17th Street, Suite 300, Denver, Colorado 80202, on

· · ·July 21, 2023 at 8:53 a.m., before Ellie K. Liebenow,

· · ·Registered Professional Reporter and Notary Public

· · ·within Colorado.

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·1· · · · · · · · · ·A P P E A R A N C E S

·2· ·For the Plaintiff:

·3· · · · · · ·LANGDON "TREY" SMITH, ESQ.

· · · · · · · ·TANNER C. FORMAN, ESQ.

·4· · · · · · ·Jim S. Adler & Associates

· · · · · · · ·3D/International Tower

·5· · · · · · ·1900 West Loop South

· · · · · · · ·20th Floor

·6· · · · · · ·Houston, Texas 77027

· · · · · · · ·lsmith@jimadler.com

·7· · · · · · ·tforman@jimadler.com

·8

· · ·For the Defendants:

·9

· · · · · · · ·MICHAEL D. COLVIN, ESQ.

10· · · · · · ·Mayer LLP

· · · · · · · ·750 North St. Paul Street

11· · · · · · ·Suite 700

· · · · · · · ·Dallas, Texas 75201

12· · · · · · ·mcolvin@mayerllp.com

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· · ·Also Present:

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· · · · · · · ·Michael Banks, Videographer

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·1· ·liability insurance that Navajo Express has that was

·2· ·in effect and applicable to the claims of Harold

·3· ·Overton, is it only the $5 million policy that's been

·4· ·produced in the case?

·5· · · · · ·A.· ·Yes.

·6· · · · · ·Q.· ·There's no excess?

·7· · · · · ·A.· ·No.

·8· · · · · ·Q.· ·Describe in general, at least as of

·9· ·February of 2020, Navajo's policies and procedures as

10· ·they relate to hiring drivers and qualifying drivers.

11· · · · · ·A.· ·The recruiting department has recruiters

12· ·that will answer questions, take applications on-line

13· ·for drivers that have applied for employment.· They

14· ·will discuss with that driver, ask them questions, and

15· ·discuss our available openings to see if there's going

16· ·to be a match.· They're going to review the

17· ·application and make sure that the application is

18· ·completely filled out and that the driver has

19· ·supposedly disclosed everything.· Then at that time,

20· ·if the driver is interested in coming, they will move

21· ·that electronic application over to another party, a

22· ·background investigator in the recruiting department.

23· ·The background investigator will then run the MVR, the

24· ·PSP, the CDLIS, the DAC report, criminal background.

25· ·There may be a couple others they run, but they run

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·1· ·all the reports that are required to be ran.· PS -- I

·2· ·said PSP.· And if the driver then meets the

·3· ·qualification standards set by the company, then they

·4· ·will schedule that driver for orientation.· Well, that

·5· ·goes back to the recruiter and the recruiter schedules

·6· ·the driver for orientation.· Once the driver arrives

·7· ·in orientation, he will begin completing the rest of

·8· ·his paperwork for his driver qualification file, and

·9· ·the orientation or onboarding assistant will be

10· ·gathering that and submitting that to the safety

11· ·department.· The driver then is going to be tested on

12· ·his backing skills, his human performance evaluation,

13· ·a pretrip inspection, a road test of at least seven

14· ·miles.· And then they will attend the rest of

15· ·orientation, which is basically training by -- or

16· ·performed by various departments or topics.· Could be

17· ·hours of service, vehicle maintenance, how to put

18· ·chains on, et cetera.· Once the -- we will drug test

19· ·and perform a physical on the driver.· They're

20· ·in-house.· Once the results of those come back and

21· ·orientation has been completed after three -- two and

22· ·a half to three days, the driver is assigned to a

23· ·truck, introduced to his dispatcher.· And from there,

24· ·he's handed off to the operations department, he or

25· ·she.

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·1· · · · · ·A.· ·No.

·2· · · · · ·Q.· ·Is he still employed with the company?

·3· · · · · ·A.· ·No.

·4· · · · · ·Q.· ·And when did Mr. Haggerty leave the

·5· ·company?

·6· · · · · ·A.· ·December of last year.

·7· · · · · ·Q.· ·So December of 2022?

·8· · · · · ·A.· ·Correct.

·9· · · · · ·Q.· ·And why did Mr. Haggerty leave the

10· ·company?

11· · · · · ·A.· ·He took a new position with FFE in

12· ·Dallas, Texas.

13· · · · · ·Q.· ·To your knowledge, did Mr. Haggerty

14· ·leaving Navajo Express have anything to do with

15· ·inadequate performance in his role as director of

16· ·safety?

17· · · · · ·A.· ·No.

18· · · · · ·Q.· ·And describe the training that safety

19· ·was providing to the new hire -- the new driver hires

20· ·at orientation in February of 2020.

21· · · · · ·A.· ·They cover a lot of material.· They're

22· ·covering hours of service.· They're covering accident

23· ·procedures.· They're covering OS&D or over, short, and

24· ·damaged for those not in trucking.· They're covering,

25· ·you know, proper procedures, you know, out on the

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·1· ·roadway, following distances, how to use your

·2· ·communication devices in the truck.· They're given DOT

·3· ·testing.· I'm sure I've missed something, but it's

·4· ·pretty in-depth.

·5· · · · · ·Q.· ·As part of this training process by

·6· ·safety at orientation, are tangible materials used,

·7· ·for example, handouts, PowerPoints, manuals, things of

·8· ·that nature?

·9· · · · · ·A.· ·Yes, some of them is -- or are.

10· · · · · ·Q.· ·As it -- what -- I'm sure -- I've seen

11· ·Navajo Express's driver policy manual, so I'm sure

12· ·that's discussed in some capacity?

13· · · · · ·A.· ·Yes.

14· · · · · ·Q.· ·What other tangible materials are

15· ·provided to the drivers and used in training the

16· ·drivers related to this safety process?

17· · · · · ·A.· ·Hours of service, they're given hours of

18· ·service paperwork.· They're given -- we actually have

19· ·them filling out logs, you know, for the ones that

20· ·might not have ever filled out a paper log.· So we go

21· ·over all that.· We do some trip planning where they're

22· ·given some loads and stuff on the tablet that's going

23· ·to be in their truck, and they need to plan their trip

24· ·and their fuel stops, their rest breaks, and so forth

25· ·associated with hours of service.· They're given a DOT

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·1· ·exam.· They're given alcohol and drug policies.

·2· ·They're given distracted driving policies.· That's all

·3· ·I can think of off the top of my head.

·4· · · · · ·Q.· ·Take us through the accident procedure

·5· ·training that the new hires receive during the

·6· ·orientation.

·7· · · · · ·A.· ·We have a video that covers all of that.

·8· ·It is custom content, so it's tailored straight to our

·9· ·company or specific to our company.· It talks about,

10· ·you know, making sure that you check for injuries, you

11· ·call 911, you send in a Macro 10, which is on their

12· ·device that breaks our screen to let us know there was

13· ·an accident, breaks all the screens in the company, so

14· ·all dispatch and all safety know that a truck was

15· ·involved in an accident.

16· · · · · · · · They're given step-by-step instructions

17· ·that's in the front of their permit book that we go

18· ·over on -- to call the 24-hour accident line that is

19· ·with carrier -- or Claims 411, and so they're

20· ·adjusters and they start working the claim from that

21· ·angle.· Anything that is involved in an injury or an

22· ·occupied vehicle, then they're required to escalate

23· ·that to a member of safety management.· And the

24· ·drivers are all informed of the processes and so forth

25· ·of how this -- they're taught how to take the

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·1· ·pictures, that we want, you know, pictures of all the

·2· ·vehicles, pictures from the scene, distances, pictures

·3· ·of anything that they think is relevant, any damage

·4· ·that wasn't caused by the accident that was on the

·5· ·claimant's vehicle.· So we cover a lot of accident

·6· ·procedures.

·7· · · · · ·Q.· ·Any part of those accident procedures

·8· ·where the drivers are trained to create some sort of

·9· ·written statement as to their perspective on what

10· ·happened in the wreck?

11· · · · · ·A.· ·If you're asking do they prepare a

12· ·written statement after the fact, not always.· Some of

13· ·them will tell us that or they'll write it out and

14· ·give it to us, but it's not something that we're going

15· ·to require.

16· · · · · ·Q.· ·Navajo Express does not require its

17· ·drivers to create any type of written statement

18· ·regarding how or why an accident may have occurred?

19· · · · · ·A.· ·They've given a verbal statement to the

20· ·adjusters of Claim 411, which in that period of time

21· ·could have been before Claim 411 bought the other

22· ·company, which was -- I can't think of what they used

23· ·to be called, but they've always called -- I mean,

24· ·it's always been on to an outside adjusting company.

25· · · · · ·Q.· ·So if I'm understanding correctly, the

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·1· · · · · · · · I, JAY THOMAS, do hereby certify that I

·2· ·have read the above and foregoing deposition and that

·3· ·the same is a true and accurate transcription of my

·4· ·testimony, except for attached amendments, if any.

·5· · · · · · · · Amendments attached· ·(· ) Yes· ·(· ) No

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·8· · · · · · · · · · · · · · ___________________________

· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · JAY THOMAS

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11· · · · · · · · The signature above of JAY THOMAS was

12· ·subscribed and sworn to or affirmed before me in the

13· ·county of __________________, state of

14· ·________________________, this ________ day of

15· ·_______________________, 2023.

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18· · · · · · · · · · · · · · ___________________________

· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Notary Public

19· · · · · · · · · · · · · · My Commission expires:

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25· ·Harold Overton 7/22/23 (ekl)

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·1· · · · · · · · · ·REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE

·2· ·STATE OF COLORADO· · · · ·)

· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·)· ss.

·3· ·CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER )

·4

· · · · · · · · · I, ELLIE K. LIEBENOW, Registered

·5· ·Professional Reporter and Notary Public ID

· · ·20034039357, State of Colorado, do hereby certify that

·6· ·previous to the commencement of the examination, the

· · ·said JAY THOMAS was duly sworn or affirmed by me to

·7· ·testify to the truth in relation to the matters in

· · ·controversy between the parties hereto; that the said

·8· ·deposition was taken in machine shorthand by me at the

· · ·time and place aforesaid and was thereafter reduced to

·9· ·typewritten form; that the foregoing is a true

· · ·transcript of the questions asked, testimony given,

10· ·and proceedings had.

11· · · · · · · · I further certify that I am not employed

· · ·by, related to, nor of counsel for any of the parties

12· ·herein, nor otherwise interested in the outcome of

· · ·this litigation.

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· · · · · · · · · IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have affixed my

14· ·signature this __24th__ day of July, 2023.

15· · · · · · · · My commission expires November 18, 2023.

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· · ·__X__ Reading and Signing was requested.

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· · ·_____ Reading and Signing was waived.

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· · ·_____ Reading and Signing is not required.

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21· · · · · · · · · · _________________________________

· · · · · · · · · · · Ellie K. Liebenow

22· · · · · · · · · · Registered Professional Reporter

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