Family sues Austin BBQ restaurant after rotting pecan tree kills father of 4
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A Texas father of four is facing a lawsuit after a man was allegedly “crushed to death by the unstoppable fall” of a “sick” pecan tree while eating at a BBQ restaurant.
Kirk Foyle, 64, died May 19 when a tree fell on him at Green Mesquite BBQ in Austin, according to a lawsuit, Fox 7 reported. The tree was hanging over the patio area where Foyle was eating as storms moved through the area.
The tree, referred to in the complaint as “Widow Maker,” was located at 1410 Barton Springs Rd, but parts of the tree extended to the outside patio area of Green Mesquite, where Foyle was sitting, according to the store.
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The family of a man killed by a falling tree at Green Mesquite BBQ in Austin, Texas, is suing the restaurant. (Google Maps)
The tree was allegedly never properly inspected by the restaurant’s employees or managers of the neighboring business, Aspen Hatter, despite it being “erected, or in part, on property owned and controlled” by the businesses, according to the lawsuit.
The complaint alleges that employees of the two local businesses allowed the tree, which was said to be showing signs of disease, to rot and decay without warning customers or taking steps to maintain or remove it.
The lawsuit names Green Mesquite BBQ and nearby property owners as defendants.
In the case, the tree that crushed Kirk Foyle is called the “Widow Maker.” (Google Maps)
“The defendants knew, or in the exercise of care they should have known, of the dangerous, diseased, rotten, and/or structurally endangered condition of this tree and failed to inspect, preserve, remove, and/or warn of its dangerous condition,” the complaint continued.
“Prior to May 19, 2026, Widowmaker was in a dangerous, damaged, decayed, diseased, and/or defective condition,” it reads. “On knowledge and belief, the dangerous condition of the widowed Maker was apparent, apparent, or discovered upon examination, and there was a sufficient time that the defendants knew or, in the exercise of ordinary care, should have known of its condition.”
According to the Foyle family, he was sitting on the patio when the tree “suddenly snapped at or near its base and fell” as storms moved through the area. Foyle’s cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma from being struck by a falling tree branch, according to the Travis County Deputy Medical Examiner, the complaint said.
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Green Mesquite has alleged that the tree was struck by lightning the night Foyle was crushed, but his family and their lawyers argue that this did not happen and that lack of care was the cause of his death, according to Law & Crime.
The filing also says the owners of the property where the tree was located issued a $960,000 bond that was used to rehabilitate the property just a week after Foyle’s death.
The defendants are accused of gross negligence, and the Foyle family is seeking at least $1 million in damages. (Google Maps)
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The defendants are accused of gross negligence, and the Foyle family is seeking $1,000,000 in damages related to the man’s death, emotional distress and legal costs.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Green Mesquite and Aspen Hatter for comment.
