The family of an electrician killed in 2019 in a construction accident at a Frito-Lay Inc. facility in Irving is entitled to more than $100 million in damages, a Dallas County jury was told Tuesday.
Lawyers for Laura Lopez, the widow of Hernan Murillo, and for their four children told jurors in closing arguments that Murillo’s death was caused by negligence on the part of Walker Engineering Inc., a Texas construction services company.
The jury deliberated for about two hours late Tuesday afternoon without reaching a verdict. Deliberations are to resume Wednesday morning.
According to evidence presented in a three-week trial before state District Judge Veretta Frazier of Dallas, Murillo was on a construction lift when another worker operating a different lift knocked over Murillo’s machine, sending him tumbling to a concrete floor about 30 feet below. Murillo was killed instantly.
The collision and fall were caught on a Frito-Lay video recording of the construction work.
“This man should not have died when he died,” said Charla Aldous of Aldous Walker in Dallas, one of the lawyers for Murillo’s survivors. “It should not have happened.” The family’s suit said Walker Engineering failed to adequately train and supervise workers at the Frito-Lay site.
In addition to Aldous, Lopez and Murillo’s children are represented by Brent Walker of Aldous Walker and M. Kevin Queenan of Arlington.
Lawyers for Walker Engineering blamed the accident on the operator of the lift that collided with Murillo’s and said the construction project was being run by a sister company, Walker Industrial, which is not presently a defendant in the Murillo family’s suit.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers “have been reckless with the truth,” Bob Bragalone of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, one of the lawyers for Walker Engineering, told the jury.
“There’s a huge difference between failure to train and failure to follow training,” he said.
Bragalone’s co-counsel, Joseph E. Byrne of Byrne, Cardenas & Aris in Dallas, suggested to jurors that damages of $6 million may be appropriate, compared with the nine-figure sum outlined by Aldous.
“If you blame Walker Engineering, we’re teaching all the wrong lessons,” Byrne said.
Aldous called the defendant’s attempt to assign blame to Walker Industrial a “corporate shell game,” which, she said, was intended to preserve Walker Engineering’s safety record so it could continue to pursue lucrative contracts.
“Walker Engineering will do or say anything to avoid responsibility” for Murillo’s death, Aldous said.
Lopez initially sued Walker Engineering and Frito-Lay and eventually added the operator of the lift that collided with Murillo’s along with other companies, including Walker Industrial. All but Walker Engineering were dismissed before trial. Court records show Lopez reached a settlement with Frito-Lay and the Haskell Company, a general contractor, in 2022. Of the total undisclosed settlement amount, $2.4 million is to be distributed between Murillo’s four children over several years, court records show.
A worker injured in the accident, Jose Javier, and his wife also filed a lawsuit. Court records show they reached a settlement with the Haskell Company in 2022.
The case number in Dallas County District Court is DC-19-16959.