Lindsay X-LITE Guardrail End Terminal Litigation was series of wrongful‑death and catastrophic‑injury lawsuits that highlighted deadly defects in the Lindsay X‑LITE guardrail system and prompted nationwide scrutiny of guardrail safety, ultimately driving legislative and regulatory action to remove the hazardous devices from American roadways. The outcomes delivered meaningful accountability for the families who brought these cases by exposing systemic failures in design, manufacture, and installation—and by helping to ensure safer roadways for drivers across the country.
Case History
Beuttel v. Lindsay, et al.
On Wednesday, June 28, 2017, attorneys Theodore J. Leopold, Leslie M. Kroeger, and Poorad Razavi filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the families of Lauren Beuttel and Jacob Davison against the Lindsay Corporation and several related entities alleging negligence and liability.
Davison v. Lindsay, et al.
On June 29, 2016, Jacob Davison, 18, was driving a 2004 Toyota Solara on Interstate 40 in Cumberland County, Tennessee when it left the roadway off the left shoulder and hit the end of a guardrail.
Instead of the guardrail properly performing and telescoping on impact or re-directing the car, as it should, the Lindsay X-LITE guardrail end terminal failed to maintain its integrity and stop the W-beam guardrail pieces. Those W-beams pierced through the Toyota’s front fender, cowling, and floor board and entered the driver’s side occupant compartment, killing Jacob and his rear seat passenger, 21-year old Lauren Beuttel.
The complaint alleged that the X-LITE guardrail failed to perform its intended safety function during the collision because the product was defective in its design and manufacture, and had been improperly installed due to the Lindsay Company’s failure to provide adequate installation and/or maintenance instructions to the State of Tennessee and its third party contractor.
This case is Beuttel v. Lindsay, et al., case No. CC102917-CV-6287, Tennessee; Davison v. Lindsay, et al., Case No. CC102917-CV-6287, Tennessee
Byrd v. Lindsay, et al.
On July 2, 2016, 69-year-old Wilbert Byrd was killed on Interstate I-75 in Chattanooga, Tennessee when, while a passenger in a 2015 Ford Explorer that his nephew was driving, the vehicle left the roadway and collided with a Lindsay X-LITE guardrail end. The two relatives were traveling from Detroit, Michigan to attend a funeral in Georgia.
Instead of the guardrail properly performing and telescoping to absorb the impact or re-directing the car, as it should, the X-LITE end terminal provided no protection.
The guardrail’s W-beams penetrated the Ford Explorer and traveled through the vehicle’s cabin. It entered through the center dashboard and exited the rear windshield.
Over 60 feet of guardrail passed through the vehicle in a matter of seconds. In the process, the guardrail violently impacted Mr. Byrd, leading to a fatal injury.
The complaint alleged that the X-LITE guardrail failed to perform its intended safety function during the collision because the product was defective in its design and manufacture, and had been improperly installed due to the Lindsay Company’s failure to provide adequate installation and/or maintenance instructions to the State of Tennessee and its third party contractor.
This case is Byrd v. Lindsay, et al., case No. 17-C-747), Tennessee
Blankenship v. Lindsay, et al.
On April 29, 2017, Ronald and Charlotte Blankenship were driving their car on Interstate 26, approximately one mile east of the intersection of Union Highway and Bethany Church Road in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, when their vehicle left the roadway off the right shoulder, striking a Lindsay X-LITE guardrail end-terminal. Instead of deflecting the car or collapsing (“telescoping” backward) to absorb the vehicle’s impact, as it is designed to do, the guardrail end-terminal impaled the couple’s car, violently striking Mrs. Blankenship, who suffered immediate and catastrophic injuries. She ultimately died from her injuries. Mr. Blankenship, who witnessed his wife’s death, survived the crash.
This case is Blankenship v. Lindsay, et al., case No. 2018-CP-42-00344, South Carolina
Moyer v. Lindsay, et al.
On June 30, 2017, Joyce Moyer’s vehicle veered off the right shoulder on Interstate 40 in Putnam County, Tennessee and collided with an X-LITE guardrail end-terminal. The end-terminal pierced the vehicle’s exterior of Mrs. Moyer’s vehicle, causing severe injuries to her body, ultimately requiring partial amputation of her left leg.
This case is Moyer v. Lindsay, et al., case No. 2018-CV-013, Tennessee
Resulting Legislative Action
As an essential part of our guardrail litigation, we engaged in extensive research on guardrail safety and design, traveling across the country, inspecting accident sites, and hosting countless meetings with guardrail and highway system design experts from around the world. In so doing, we have discovered, among other things, a new series of catastrophic failures pertaining to guardrail systems.
Led by Theodore J. Leopold and Leslie M. Kroeger, our team had multiple meetings with federal government officials and corresponded with multiple State Department of Transportation offices. In April 2017, Mr. Leopold, Ms. Kroeger, and Poorad Razavi, participated in a closed door meeting with the heads of the Federal Highway Administration at the boardroom of the United States Department of Transportation, along with several United States Senate staff members. Shortly after that meeting, many legislators around the country began to initiate laws to remove the Lindsay X-LITE guardrails from their roadways.