Kingfisher County commissioners met in executive session Monday with their attorney to discuss a 2017 lawsuit set for jury trial in October.

The lawsuit, filed in October 2017 by Garrick Steven Yost of Kingfisher, alleges that he was injured when his truck crashed on a washed out roadway that allegedly was not marked with warning signs on March 29, 2017.

The accident happened about 5:45 a.m. on County Road 870, four-tenths of a mile east of County Road 2730, where the rock roadway had apparently washed out after days of heavy rain.

According to his deposition testimony, Yost had passed that same point about 9:30 p.m. the previous evening and the roadway had been intact.

Yost testified at disposition that he allegedly saw the washout too late to stop and accelerated in an attempt to clear it, but underestimated its size, and the undercarriage of his truck was torn off on the opposite embankment of the washout.

According to subsequent court filings, county 911 dispatchers were alerted to the washout and a sheriff’s car was dispatched to warn approaching motorists, but then turned around en route when notified by 911 that Keith Schroder, then county commissioner, had been contacted.

A 911 dispatcher allegedly phoned Schroder sometime around midnight about water crossing the road, although whether he was informed or understood that the road was actually washed out is a matter of dispute in the lawsuit.

Schroder was at the county shop by 5:30 a.m. to repair warning signs, which he sent out with an employee to the washout site, according to his deposition testimony.

While the employee was en route, Schroder was notified of Garrick’s crash, according to Schroder’s deposition.

The lawsuit originally named the county sheriff’s office as well as the board of county commissioners as defendants, but the sheriff’s office was subsequently dropped from the lawsuit because it is a legal subdivision of the county government and not subject to being sued as a separate entity.

Originally assigned to Associate District Judge Robert Davis, the lawsuit has subsequently been transferred to Blaine County Associate District Judge Allison Lafferty in January, after current Kingfisher County Judge Lance Schneiter recused himself.

Lafferty denied the county’s motion to dismiss the entire lawsuit by summary judgment in February and set it for jury trial Oct. 28 in Blaine County.