GREENSBORO – Jury selection has started in a wrongful death civil trial involving BB&T Corp. and a woman claiming the company destroyed cell phone records to avoid liability in a car crash that killed her daughter. The case is in Guilford Superior Court.

Leslie Page Gill filed suit last year against BB&T Insurance Services and the estate of Stuart Thomas, the father of her daughter, Emma.

Stuart Thomas, 49, and Emma Thomas, 16, died in an August 2011 wreck on Interstate 40 in Mocksville.

Thomas’ SUV slammed into the back of a tractor-trailer that had slowed down as traffic merged into the left lane. The right lane was closed. Stuart Thomas was killed instantly, and Emma Thomas, who was transported by helicopter to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, died two days later.

Gill alleges Thomas, a vice president at BB&T Insurance Services, was talking on his cellphone for work at the time of the crash.

Gill’s attorney also claims the company deleted Thomas’ emails and voicemails and sent a “wipe” order to delete all the information on his cellphone. Thomas’ widow, Andrea, has denied he was using his cellphone at the time of the crash.

BB&T has denied liability in the case.