El Paso Jury's $124 Million Bus Crash Verdict Settles for $5 Million on Appeal
After trial: The $124 million figure was the jury's verdict, not what the case ultimately resolved to. While Los Paisanos Autobuses' appeal to the Eighth Court of Appeals was pending, the parties reached a settlement, and on July 5, 2012 the appellate court reversed the trial court's judgment and rendered a $5,000,000 judgment reflecting that agreement, divided pro rata among the fifteen plaintiffs. No source reviewed disclosed the settlement's payment terms or confirmed that the $5 million was actually disbursed. Plaintiffs' counsel David Harris told El Paso Inc after the jury verdict that he was not confident the family would collect the full amount awarded, given the company's stated plan to appeal.
Won by Sico Hoelscher Harris LLP.
On October 10, 2005, a Los Paisanos Autobuses van slid off an icy highway near Denver, Colorado at 70 miles per hour, flipped, and struck a concrete embankment, killing two passengers and injuring five others. A Texas jury in the 327th District Court in El Paso County found the bus company and its driver negligent for operating a van with bald tires and inaccessible seatbelts while the driver ate and drove too fast for the weather, and on December 3, 2010 returned a verdict of more than $124 million. Los Paisanos appealed, and while the appeal was pending the parties settled; in July 2012 the Eighth Court of Appeals in El Paso reversed the trial court's judgment and rendered a new judgment of $5,000,000, divided among fifteen plaintiffs on a pro rata basis under the settlement. David E. Harris of the firm now known as Sico Hoelscher Harris represented the plaintiffs and told a local business paper after the verdict that he could not promise the family would ever collect the full amount the jury awarded.
What happened
On the night of October 10, 2005, a van operated by Los Paisanos Autobuses was traveling on a Colorado highway near Denver when it hit snow and slush on the road at 70 miles per hour. The van slid off the pavement, flipped, and struck a concrete embankment. Teresa Lozano Acevedo was thrown from the vehicle and died about two hours later. A second passenger, Ascencion Ramirez Caraveo, was killed in the crash itself. Five other passengers were injured.
At trial, the plaintiffs' lawyers presented evidence that the crash was not simply bad luck on an icy road. The van had bald tires, and its seatbelts did not work and were not accessible to the people riding in it. The driver, Heriberto Flores-Garcia, was eating while he drove and was going too fast for the conditions.
The estates of the two dead passengers, along with surviving family members and the injured passengers, sued Los Paisanos Autobuses and Flores-Garcia in the 327th District Court in El Paso County, Texas. The suit was filed as cause number 2005-8265 and tried before Judge Linda Yee Chew. The appellate record lists David E. Harris, now a partner at Sico Hoelscher Harris, as counsel for the plaintiffs, alongside lawyers from Wigington Rumley Dunn, Scherr & Legate, and the Pastrana Law Firm. The case went to trial in late 2010. Jurors heard four days of evidence, deliberated less than four hours, and on December 3, 2010 found Los Paisanos and its driver negligent, returning a verdict of more than $124 million.
Harris was candid with reporters about what came next. Los Paisanos said it planned to appeal, and Harris told the El Paso Inc business paper that he could not promise his clients they would see the full verdict. He said the likelihood of collecting the entire award was not great, though the family intended to try.
Los Paisanos did appeal, taking the case to the Eighth Court of Appeals in El Paso. Rather than litigate the appeal to a ruling, the parties settled. In a memorandum opinion issued July 5, 2012, the appellate court granted the parties' joint motion, reversed the trial court's $124 million judgment, and rendered a new judgment of $5,000,000 under the settlement's terms. The court's order divided that amount among fifteen named plaintiffs, the two estates and the surviving family members and injured passengers, in shares ranging from $30,369.79 to $1,475,710.05 depending on each person's role and losses in the case. The mandate issued October 5, 2012.
No further appeal followed the $5,000,000 consent judgment entered July 5, 2012. That figure, not the jury's $124 million, is what the case resolved to.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.El Paso Inc., 2010 (updated 2012): independent local business paper naming David Harris as plaintiffs' counsel and quoting him on the low likelihood of full collection; confirms the $124 million verdict returned December 3, 2010, the October 10, 2005 crash at 70 mph in snow, the concrete embankment, the two deaths (Teresa Lozano Acevedo and Ascencion Ramirez Caraveo), the five injured, the bald tires, the inaccessible/non-working seatbelts, driver Heriberto Flores-Garcia eating while driving, and the defendant's plan to appeal
- 2.Texas Judicial Branch official case record, Eighth Court of Appeals No. 08-11-00186-CV: docket confirming the July 5, 2012 memorandum opinion disposition 'Reversed and Rendered', mandate issued October 5, 2012, trial court 327th District Court of El Paso County cause 2005-8265 before Judge Linda Yee Chew, and the counsel of record for appellees, which names David Echols Harris (Sico, White, Hoelscher & Braugh) with R. Reagan Sahadi, Joseph Isaac, David L. Rumley and Raul Steven Pastrana
- 3.Chavira v. Gaytan Pina, No. 08-11-00186-CV (Tex. App. El Paso, July 5, 2012): court opinion confirming the trial court judgment (TC# 2005-8265, 327th District Court, El Paso County) was reversed and a $5,000,000 judgment rendered on the parties' joint settlement motion under Tex. R. App. P. 42.1(a)(2)(A) and 43.2(c), with the exact per-plaintiff dollar allocation among fifteen named plaintiffs
- 4.Sico Hoelscher Harris LLP (firm announcement)
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