Attempts to settle an injury negligence lawsuit stemming from a 2018 collision between two cars inside a car wash in Sierra in 2018 have failed, so a Cochise County jury will decide in a few months who was at fault.
Christian and Victoria Pons sued Coral and Robert Wellborn in May 2020, nearly two years after Coral reportedly rear ended a vehicle driven by Victoria at the Mister Car Wash in Sierra Vista. The car wash is owned by Car Wash Partners, which is also named as a defendant.
A three-day jury trial will be conducted by Judge David Thorn starting Oct. 19 in Bisbee. At issue for the jurors is whether Car Wash Partners, the largest car wash company in the United States, is responsible in part or full for the collision.
Mister Car Wash, which is headquartered in Tucson, has more than 340 locations in 21 states. It offers a conveyor style car wash service in which an apparatus “catches” one of the vehicle’s wheels to convey or guide the vehicle through the cleaning area called the tunnel.
According to the Pons’ lawsuit, Victoria was traveling through the car wash when a vehicle driven by Coral “was operated so negligently and recklessly as to cause it to violently collide with the rear of Plaintiff’s vehicle. Plaintiff sustained injuries as a result of the accident.”
The Pons, who are represented by attorney Thomas Bayham, also allege Car Wash Partners dba Mister Car Wash “negligently operated and supervised the car wash, among other actions not yet ascertained, and this negligence was the cause of injuries to the Plaintiff.”
The extent of any injuries has not been divulged in court.
Car Wash Partners has put forth a variety of affirmative defenses. One defense is that the Pons failed to mitigate any damages, and that any injuries which may have been suffered by Victoria Pons “were caused solely by the negligence of Defendant Coral Wellborn.”
The Wellborns were voluntarily dismissed as defendants several months after the lawsuit was filed. This may have been prompted by a settlement with their insurance carrier, but such information does not have to be reported to Thorn prior to trial.
Car Wash Partners, however, has formally noticed Thorn it believes any damages the jury may award to the Pons should be adjusted downward in consideration of the Wellborns being non-parties at fault.
“The Complaint alleges Coral Wellborn was negligent and careless in that she failed to control her vehicle and failed to keep a proper lookout and that negligence was the cause of Plaintiffs’ injuries,” the notice states. “Therefore, any judgment entered in favor of Plaintiffs must be reduced by the fault of Coral Wellborn and Robert Wellborn.”
Thorn has imposed 10 pretrial deadlines on the parties, including one which required a settlement conference by another Cochise County Superior Court judge. The purpose of the July 21 conference with Judge Laura Cardinal was to see if the parties could agree to a resolution that avoids an expensive trial.
But despite nearly 90 minutes of what Cardinal characterized as “good faith” negotiations, the settlement conference ended without an agreement.
The parties will be back in court for an Oct. 8 pretrial conference for any last minute motions prior to the jury trial.
