$4.675 Million Verdict for Worker Struck by an Improperly Rigged HVAC Unit
After trial: Howell Crane appealed, and the Fourth Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal in 2021 after the parties settled (No. 04-20-00298-CV).
Won by George Salinas Injury Lawyers.
A San Antonio jury found $4.675 million in total damages for a construction worker who suffered a serious injury when an HVAC unit that a crane rigging company had improperly rigged rolled onto him and struck him.
What happened
Robert Lee Wammack Jr. was working on a construction site in Bexar County when an HVAC unit that Howell Crane and Rigging, Inc. had rigged rolled on top of him and struck him. Wammack alleged that the company's improper rigging of the unit caused his serious bodily injury.
The case was tried over roughly two weeks in early 2020 in the 408th Judicial District Court, with the Honorable Angelica Jimenez presiding. Howell Crane and Rigging contended that Wammack's own negligence and that of his employer had caused his injuries.
George L. Salinas Jr. and John R. Bozada II of the Law Offices of George Salinas tried the case to a jury for the plaintiff. The jury assigned 70 percent of the responsibility to Howell Crane and Rigging, 10 percent to Wammack, and 20 percent to his employer, and it found a total of $4,675,000 in damages. TopVerdict later ranked the result the tenth-largest verdict in Texas for 2020.
Howell Crane and Rigging appealed under case number 04-20-00298-CV in the Texas Fourth Court of Appeals. The appeal did not reach a merits ruling. In October 2021, the defendant advised the appellate court that the parties had reached a post-verdict settlement, and in December 2021 the court dismissed the appeal on the defendant's unopposed motion. The trial verdict was not disturbed by any court.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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