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Jury Awards Toby Keith's Family $2.8 Million Over Death of His Father
Wednesday December 26, 2007

toby keith

RD/Leon/Retna Digital

Country music singer Toby Keith and his family have been awarded $2.8 million in damages for a 2001 collision on an Oklahoma interstate that killed Keith's father, H.K. Covel.

According to the Associated Press, a jury returned the verdict against the operators of Rodriguez Transportes of Tulsa and the Republic Western Insurance Co., finding that Covel would not have died if the company's bus had been equipped with properly working air brakes.

According to evidence presented at the wrongful-death trial, the charter bus that slammed into Covel's vehicle on I-35 was "in urgent need" of brake repairs before Covel was killed. The Rodriguezes reportedly had been advised of the brake problem before Covel's truck crossed the center divide and collided with the bus.

The verdict was returned last week. "The jury found no fault on the part of Mr. Covel in the wreck that claimed his life," the family's attorney said.

The plaintiffs awarded the damages include his wife Carolyn Covel, daughter Tonni Covel and sons Toby Keith Covel and Tracey Covel.

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