Austin Jury Awards $112.9 Million in Dram Shop Case Over Crash That Left a Six-Year-Old With a Brain Injury
A Travis County jury found a Wings 'N More restaurant liable for overserving a drunk driver who crashed into a family's car, awarding $112.9 million after a six-year-old girl suffered a traumatic brain injury, cardiac arrest, and the loss of vision in one eye.
What happened
One evening in August 2023, Pedro Jaimes Suarez drank at a Wings 'N More restaurant, then got behind the wheel. His vehicle struck the rear of a car carrying Lorenzo Marquez, Caitlin Carpenter, and Carpenter's six-year-old daughter, forcing it under the trailer of an 18-wheeler.
The girl took the worst of the impact. She suffered a traumatic brain injury and went into cardiac arrest. She sustained facial fractures and lost vision in one eye. Her injuries will require medical care for years to come. Her mother and Marquez were hurt as well, and Carpenter lived through the added trauma of witnessing what happened to her daughter.
The family sued Wings LLC, the company behind the restaurant, along with Suarez. Their claim rested on the Texas dram shop statute, which makes a licensed alcohol provider liable when it serves a customer who is obviously intoxicated to the point of presenting a clear danger to himself and others. Robert C. Alden and C. Carson May of Byrd Davis Alden & Henrichson tried the case in Travis County district court before Judge Cory Liu, with the trial running September 22 through 25, 2025.
The jury's verdict was unanimous. It found that the restaurant served Suarez when his intoxication was apparent, and it apportioned responsibility at 60 percent to Suarez, 37 percent to Wings, and 3 percent to two restaurant employees. The total award came to $112.9 million, which The Texas Lawbook ranked among the biggest Texas verdicts of 2025.
The bulk of the award belongs to the child. Jurors gave her more than $23.5 million for future medical care through age 18, about $5.57 million for past medical expenses, and $2.46 million for lost future earning capacity, on top of separate awards exceeding $11 million each for her future pain and mental anguish, disfigurement, and physical impairment. Carpenter received more than $35 million for the mental anguish of watching her daughter's injuries unfold, plus $2.25 million for her own pain, and Marquez was awarded $2.25 million.
As of The Texas Lawbook's year-end report, no appeal had been filed. The case is Caitlin E. Carpenter et al. v. Wings LLC et al., cause number D-1-GN-23-004486, in the district court of Travis County, Texas.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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