Toyota Motor Corp has reached a settlement in a case on appeal in which a Dallas family obtained a $213 million judgment in a car crash case, according to a joint motion the parties filed with the Supreme Court of Texas on Wednesday.
The settlement agreement follows the preservation of the nine-figure judgment this summer in Dallas’ Fifth Court of Appeals and a 2018 jury trial that rendered a $242 million verdict for Benjamin and Kristi Reavis and their two young children, Emily and Owen, who suffered permanent brain damage after a 2016 rear-end crash in the family’s Lexus ES 300. Dallas District Judge Dale Tillery later reduced the award to $213 million, the maximum amount allowed under Texas law.
Frank Branson, the Reavis’ lead lawyer, was not immediately available for comment.
In a written statement, a spokesperson for Toyota said the company, which has its North American headquarters in Plano, is “gratified to have reached a mutually acceptable resolution.”
According to the joint motion for abatement, the trial court will need to approve the settlement since it involves the rights of minor children. The terms of the settlement agreement are not known.
The parties have not filed any motions in the trial court yet, but a handful of lawyers on Toyota’s appellate team filed notices of appearance, including Haynes and Boone’s Anne Johnson, Nina Cortell and Jason Jordan and Alexander Dubose & Jefferson’s Wallace B. Jefferson, Rachel Ekery and William Boyce.
At the time of the settlement, briefing for the appeal before the Texas Supreme Court had just started up. Toyota submitted its petition for review in September, and the Reavises replied in October.
The Reavis’ appellate team includes Harry Reasoner, Marie Yeates, Tom Leatherbury and Michael Heidler of Vinson & Elkins.
The Texas Lawbook was in the courtroom every day for the three-week jury trial in 2018. To visit The Lawbook’s previous trial coverage, click here.