Michael Aguilar

A Bexar County jury awarded Brenda Steele $1,052,500 after finding a Martin Marietta employee responsible for a 2018 collision in a Walmart parking lot that left Steele needing years of spine treatment. Her adult daughter, a passenger in the car, received a separate and far smaller award for her own injuries. The trial court had removed the question of Steele's own possible fault from the jury by directed verdict before the case went to the jury. In April 2026, the Fourth Court of Appeals reversed that ruling and sent the case back for a new trial, holding the jury should have decided whether Steele shared any responsibility for the crash. Motions for rehearing are pending, so the reversal is not yet final and the verdict does not currently stand.