Airport Wing Walker Paralyzed by a Fueling Company Van Wins a $352.7 Million Harris County Verdict, Reduced to $235.3 Million and Then Settled on Appeal

Ulysses Cruz spent the morning of September 7, 2019 doing a job that depends on being seen. He was a wing walker on the United Airlines ground crew at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, walking behind the wing of a plane as it was towed away from its gate at about 7:30 a.m., wearing the bright yellow vest and carrying the two orange wands that signal every vehicle on the ramp to stop and yield to the departing aircraft. Reginald Willis, a supervisor for Allied Aviation Fueling Company of Houston, did not stop. He drove his van into Cruz from behind, throwing him several feet through the air onto the concrete. Willis told investigators the early sun was in his eyes.

Cruz, then 48, was paralyzed from the chest down on impact. Surgeons stabilized his spine, which kept the paralysis from climbing to his neck, but two days later he suffered a stroke that took the use of his right arm, his dominant one, and left him with severely limited speech. He spent 13 months in the hospital and in rehabilitation and will need round-the-clock care for the rest of his life. His wife, Cecilia Cruz, a nurse, became one of his primary caregivers.

Cecilia Cruz sued Willis and Allied in Harris County district court in November 2019, individually and on behalf of her husband, their 14-year-old daughter and their 18-year-old son, alleging negligence, gross negligence and vicarious liability (Cause No. 2019-81830). The case first sat with Judge Dedra Davis, who ordered a virtual trial because of the pandemic; Allied's lead counsel, Rusty Hardin, unsuccessfully petitioned the Texas Supreme Court for mandamus on the theory that a remote jury trial violated due process. The case was later transferred to Judge Ravi Sandill of the 127th District Court, who presided over an in-person, two-week trial that was also livestreamed.

Allied argued that Cruz walked into the van's path and lacked situational awareness, that United shared the blame, and that the roughly $30 million projected for his past and future medical care was excessive. Plaintiffs' counsel Randy Sorrels and Alexandra Farias-Sorrels answered with video and physical evidence and chose not to seek punitive damages, which under Texas law would have required a unanimous verdict. After two days of deliberation, on October 25, 2021, eleven jurors found Allied 70 percent and Willis 30 percent responsible, assigned no fault to Cruz or United, and awarded $352.7 million, all of it compensatory: $2 million in past medical expenses, $30 million in future medical expenses, $70 million each for Cruz's future physical pain and mental anguish, $20 million to each of the two children, and further sums for lost earnings, impairment and the family's loss. Sorrels noted Allied carried $500 million in insurance coverage.

Judge Sandill signed a judgment on November 6, 2021 for the full verdict plus about $5.4 million in prejudgment interest. Allied moved for a new trial. In an order issued February 1, 2022, the judge said he would grant that motion unless the family accepted a $117.5 million remittitur of noneconomic damages: $32.5 million off each of Cruz's $70 million awards for future physical pain and mental anguish, $7.5 million off the daughter's award and $10 million off the son's. The family accepted, and an amended final judgment of roughly $235.3 million was signed February 7, 2022.

Allied and Willis appealed to the First Court of Appeals (No. 01-22-00083-CV), and the Cruz family cross-appealed seeking the full verdict. Allied filed its opening brief on November 30, 2022. Soon after, the parties reached a mediated settlement, the appeal was abated in January 2023, and on June 28, 2023 they jointly asked the court to vacate the amended judgment and dismiss the case with prejudice under the settlement. The court did so on July 18, 2023, without ever reaching the merits, and its mandate issued September 29, 2023. The settlement amount was not disclosed. On appeal the family was represented by Sorrels, Farias-Sorrels and H. Victor Thomas of Sorrels Law, David Gunn and Erin Huber of Beck Redden, and Harvey Brown of The Lanier Law Firm.