Dallas Jury Holds Developer Responsible For Fatal Tower Crane Collapse
After trial: The jury's $500,000,000 exemplary award was cut under the Texas statutory cap on exemplary damages before the trial court signed judgment in August 2023; the judgment holds the three Greystar entities jointly and severally liable for $360,012,006 in compensatory damages plus about $45,000,000 in prejudgment interest and puts the reduced exemplary damages on two of the entities, and the capped exemplary figure is not stated in the public opinions. Greystar filed notice of appeal in November 2023. That appeal was argued in the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas on February 3, 2026 and had not been decided as of September 2026, so nothing here is final. A separate fight over how much security Greystar must post to pause collection went to the same court, which held in April 2024 that the statutory cap on appeal security applies per judgment debtor rather than per judgment, and then to the Texas Supreme Court, which agreed on May 22, 2026 while directing the trial court to give Greystar a reasonable time to post the additional bonds. Whether any part of the judgment has been paid is not public.
Won by Lyons & Simmons, LLP.
A tower crane collapsed onto an Old East Dallas apartment building during a storm in June 2019, killing 29-year-old Kiersten Smith. Her parents sued developer Greystar Development and Construction and two related Greystar entities for wrongful death, arguing the crane had not been left free to swing with the wind as the forecast required. A Dallas County jury agreed in April 2023, awarding $360,012,006 in compensatory damages and $500,000,000 in exemplary damages, a combined $860,012,006 verdict. The trial court then cut the exemplary award under the Texas statutory cap, signing a judgment that held the three Greystar entities jointly and severally liable for the compensatory damages plus about $45,000,000 in prejudgment interest and put the reduced exemplary damages on two of them. Greystar appealed, and the Texas Supreme Court ruled in 2026 on how much bond it must post while that appeal proceeds.
What happened
On June 9, 2019, a storm moved through Old East Dallas while a 200-foot tower crane stood over a construction site next to the Elan City Lights apartment building. The crane came down across the street and tore through the apartment where Kiersten Smith, 29, was at home with her fiance. Smith was killed, and other residents of the building were hurt.
The crane served a project being built by Greystar Development and Construction and two related Greystar entities. Ahead of a storm, a tower crane's boom is supposed to be released so it can rotate freely with the wind, a step known as weathervaning. The crane operator, Robert Hilty, testified that he had weathervaned the crane the night before the storm. Engineering reports and forensic evidence put on by the plaintiffs contradicted him, and The Texas Lawbook reported that his answers shifted between his deposition and his trial testimony. Hilty was on the payroll of the crane company, Bigge Crane and Rigging, but worked the site under a lease arrangement, and the jury had to decide whose employee he was that day.
Smith's parents, Michele Williams and James Kirkwood, sued for wrongful death and gross negligence in Dallas County. The case went to trial before Judge Melissa Ballan in County Court at Law No. 2, and after two weeks of testimony a jury returned its verdict on April 26, 2023. Jurors found that the three Greystar entities were engaged in a joint enterprise and caused Smith's death, found that Hilty had been Greystar's borrowed servant, and cleared Bigge of fault. Michael P. Lyons of Lyons and Simmons represented the family at trial along with Jason Itkin and Cory Itkin of Arnold and Itkin and Jonathon Clark of Glasheen, Valles and Inderman.
The jury awarded $360,012,006 in compensatory damages, covering the parents' loss of companionship and mental anguish, and added $500,000,000 in exemplary damages tied to Kiersten Smith's estate, a combined verdict of $860,012,006. The exemplary award did not survive intact. Texas caps exemplary damages by statute, and the trial court applied that cap before signing judgment in August 2023. The judgment holds the three Greystar entities jointly and severally liable for the compensatory damages, with about $45,000,000 in prejudgment interest added, and holds two of the entities severally liable for the reduced exemplary damages. Texas Lawyer reported the judgment at about $404,000,000. The public opinions do not state what the capped exemplary figure came to.
Greystar filed notice of appeal in November 2023, and the appeal is still open in the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas, which heard argument on February 3, 2026 and has not ruled. Staying collection while that appeal moves forward became its own fight. Greystar wanted to post one joint bond covering all three entities, capped under Texas law, while the family argued each entity had to post its own capped bond. The Fifth Court sided with the family in April 2024, and the Texas Supreme Court agreed on May 22, 2026, holding that the statutory bond cap applies per judgment debtor. The Supreme Court did give Greystar relief on one point, directing the trial court to allow a reasonable time to post the additional bonds before the family could execute on the judgment.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.The Texas Lawbook, Apr. 26, 2023: names Michael P. Lyons of Lyons & Simmons as one of the plaintiffs' trial lawyers with Jason and Cory Itkin of Arnold & Itkin; 200-foot crane, operator Robert Hilty's weathervaning testimony and the forensic evidence against it, the borrowed-servant finding, Judge Melissa Ballan, and the verdict figures.
- 2.NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Apr. 2023: independently names Michael Lyons of Lyons & Simmons, LLP as counsel for the family alongside Arnold & Itkin and Glasheen, Valles & Inderman; itemized jury award figures by plaintiff totaling $360,012,006 compensatory and $500,000,000 exemplary.
- 3.In re Greystar Development & Construction, L.P., No. 24-0293 (Tex. May 22, 2026), opinion of Justice Busby: states that the jury awarded about $360 million in non-economic damages and $500 million in exemplary damages, that the trial court reduced the exemplary award based on statutory caps, and that the judgment holds the Greystar entities jointly and severally liable for the compensatory damages and two entities severally liable for exemplary damages; holds the statutory supersedeas cap applies per judgment debtor and conditionally grants mandamus relief on the time to post bonds.
- 4.Texas Judicial Branch, slip opinion PDF in No. 24-0293 (Tex. May 22, 2026): the same opinion as filed by the Court, quoted above for the jury findings, the statutory-cap reduction of the exemplary award, and the terms of the judgment.
- 5.The Texas Lawbook, Mar. 6, 2025: reports the Greystar entities jointly and severally liable for $360 million in damages plus about $45 million in prejudgment interest, notice of appeal filed November 2023, and the Fifth Court of Appeals' April 2024 holding that the bond cap applies per judgment debtor.
- 6.Fifth Court of Appeals docket, No. 05-23-01168-CV (appeal from County Court at Law No. 2, Dallas County, Trial Court Cause No. CC-23-07310-B): confirms the trial court and cause number, that the appeal was submitted on oral argument February 3, 2026, and that no opinion had issued as of September 2026.
- 7.Texas Lawyer, Apr. 11, 2024: describes the judgment as a $404 million wrongful-death judgment and reports the Dallas appeals court upholding the order that each of the three defendants post its own appeal bond.
- 8.KERA News, Apr. 26, 2023: verdict of $860,012,006, operator Robert Hilty's testimony that he put the crane in weathervane mode, and that Smith was at home in her apartment with her fiance when the crane fell.
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