Kansas has dropped the parents of two sisters killed in a crash from a lawsuit seeking to recoup $116,832 for repairs to a highway barrier damaged in the wreck.

The Kansas Department of Transportation said Thursday that "legal action to recover highway damages after accidents is routine" but that "in this case" it would remove the parents of 7-year-old Ruth Solome Vazquez-Hernandez and her 1-year-old sister, Teresa de Jesus Vazquez-Hernandez, from the case. The agency offered no explanation, but the announcement came one day after The Kansas City Star reported on the lawsuit.

A tractor-trailer...