GREENSBORO A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday in a wrongful death civil trial involving BBT.
The ruling came after jurors in Guilford County Superior Court announced they were deadlocked at 7 5 and had no hope of reaching a verdict.
Attorneys for Leslie Page Gill who filed suit against BBT Insurance Services and the estate of her ex husband a BBT executive did not say if they planned on a retrial.
At issue was whether Gill s ex husband Stuart Thomas was to blame for an August 2011 car accident that killed him and their 16 year old daughter Emma Thomas.
Gill s attorneys allege that Stuart Thomas was talking business on his cellphone at the time of the accident and that BBT wiped his phone to avoid liability.
Lawyers for BBT deny that Thomas was talking on his cellphone when he crashed into the back of a tractor trailer on Interstate 40 near Mocksville.
They said Thomas phone was wiped eight days after the accident but said the practice is customary at BBT for employees who leave the company.
Jurors deliberated for about an hour Monday and two hours Tuesday morning before sending Judge Ronald E. Spivey a note saying they were deadlocked. They asked to see a transcript of the deposition or testimony of truck driver Daniel Billings whose tractor trailer Thomas crashed into hoping it might help them break the deadlock.
Billings testified last week the crash occurred after he merged into the left lane of Interstate 40 as he was approaching a construction zone. He said he did not see Thomas SUV in his mirrors.
Defense attorneys in their closing statements Monday called his account into question and showed pictures of the rear of the tractor trailer sticking into the right lane. Gill s attorney Robert J. King III said the force of the impact caused the trailer to shift.
Spivey declined the jury s request to see the deposition since it was not introduced into evidence. He also said they could not view the transcript as the court reporter who took down Billings testimony last week was out of town tending to her sick grandmother. Spivey gave the jurors additional instructions and told them to continue their deliberation.
About 3 20 p.m. jurors sent another note saying they were deadlocked. The foreman said the jury was split 7 5 but did not say which way it was leaning.
Spivey asked attorneys if they wanted to try to reach a deal. They spoke for about a half hour but did not come to an agreement.
King mentioned that the attorneys had spoken during the lunch recess but that they were not anywhere close together.
Spivey called the jury back in.
Do you consider this deadlock to be a hopeless deadlock that will never end the judge asked the jury foreman.
The foreman said yes and Spivey declared a mistrial.
I just hate it for the families on both sides of the aisle on this Spivey said. But I appreciated the way you (the attorneys) conducted yourselves. And obviously you did a good job because it almost came to a straight up tie.
Lawyers after Tuesday s proceedings declined to comment on the case or its future.
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