The $9.3 million judgment affirmed by the court was rendered following a jury trial in April 2016.

'Upon examining the record in the light most favorable to the verdict, we conclude that the evidence is legally sufficient to show that Taylor, as Choctaw’s agent, exercised actual control over Cardinal and Rieve through her instructions to Rieve as he drove Cardinal’s bus,' Justice Jason Boatright wrote for the court in the The interaction was the cause of the accident, state investigators determined. The casino paid Cardinal Coach Line for the bus trip and was in contact with the trip organizer, who was known to her elderly friends as 'Casino Sue,' the May 29 decision stated.Īs the bus departed for to the casino, Sue Taylor, who also was killed, started talking to the driver, Loyd Rieve, about the route there. Both patrons were killed when the vehicle ran off a highway outside of Dallas, Texas, more than 80 miles from the facility in Oklahoma.ĭespite the indirect connection to the accident, the court held that the tribe is 'vicariously liable' for it. The tribe did not operate the charter bus that was bringing Alice Stanley and Paula Hahn to the Choctaw Casino and Resort in Durant in April 2013.

The Choctaw Nation is responsible for an accident that claimed the lives of two casino patrons, an appeals court in Texas ruled this week in affirming a $9.3 million judgment against the tribe.