Texas Personal Injury Verdicts & Landmark Cases

$557 million ($500M punitive; on appeal, subject to Texas’s punitive cap)

A woman struck by a train in downtown Houston lost a leg and fingers and suffered a severe brain injury. The jury found the railroad 80% responsible for ignoring its own safety rules and federal regulations, and the victim 20% responsible.

Why it matters to your case: Texas juries will impose massive punitive damages when a large company knowingly violates its own safety rules — and the proportionate-responsibility system applies even when the injured person bears some fault.

Source: Bloomberg Law — $557M Harris County verdict

$242 million product-defect verdict (>$200M upheld on appeal)

A rear-end crash caused defectively designed front seats to collapse, slamming the parents’ heads into their two young children and causing permanent brain damage. A jury found the design defective and the maker grossly negligent; the appellate court upheld more than $200 million.

Why it matters to your case: Texas courts will hold manufacturers fully accountable for design defects that predictably cause catastrophic injury, and will sustain large punitive awards for conscious indifference to safety.

Source: PR Newswire — appellate affirmance

529 S.W.2d 751 — the comparative-fault foundation

An injured ranch hand sued his employer, which argued he’d “assumed the risk” of dangerous work. The court abolished assumption of risk as a complete defense, folding it into Texas’s comparative-fault system — the framework now codified at CPRC § 33.001.

Why it matters to your case: Being partially at fault does not automatically defeat your claim in Texas — at 50% or less you still recover, reduced by your share. Defense lawyers push to get you past 51% precisely because that bars everything.

Source: Farley v. MM Cattle Co., 529 S.W.2d 751 (Tex. 1975)