Man’s First Common-Law Wife Beats Second in Insurance Dispute

The first common-law wife of a man killed in a crash with a truck is entitled to the proceeds from the trucking company’s insurance policy instead of the victim’s second common-law wife, the Fifth Circuit said.

Because Texas doesn’t allow bigamy and Omar White never formally divorced his first common-law wife, Brandy Lidge, White’s second common-law marriage to Laura Escalante was void, the opinion by Judge Jerry E. Smith said.

Creekside Logistics LLC, an Alabama company, owned the truck involved in the crash with White. After Lidge and Escalante sued Creekside in federal court, its insurance company went into receivership ...