HOUSTON – Chipotle Mexican Grill will have a second chance to convince a jury that the restaurant chain is not liable for the sexual assault of a minor by the girl’s 26-year old supervisor.
The suit against Chipotle was brought four years ago by a woman identified only as SVZ, who sued the company and two of its employees on behalf of her daughter.
When the case went to trial, the court ruled that the because the girl was underage, her conduct was wholly irrelevant to the jury’s determination of liability and actual damages, precluding the defense from eliciting testimony about why the girl had consented to a sexual relationship with her supervisor.
The trial court also issued a charge instruction stating that the girl’s conduct could not be considered for any purpose, court records show.
At the end of the trial, a jury awarded $2.29 million in actual damages for sexual assault and more than $2.9 million for sexual harassment.
The trial court trimmed the judgment to nearly $3 million in actual damages and appeal ensued soon after.
On Nov. 20, the 14th Court of Appeals concluded the trial court’s charge instruction was erroneous and that the jury should have been allowed to hear and consider evidence of the girl’s conduct, as that evidence was relevant to the determination of actual damages.
“Because the erroneous instruction probably led to the rendition of an improper judgment on the common law claim of sexual assault against the supervisor and on the statutory claim of sexual harassment against the restaurant, we conclude that those claims must be remanded for a new trial,” the opinion states.
Case background
After she turned sixteen, the girl began working as an entry-level crew member at Chipotle. Gerardo Solis, a defendant in the lawsuit, worked alongside her. Solis was married, twenty-five years old, and soon to turn twenty-six.
The first interaction between the two occurred when Solis bumped into the girl’s breasts, which he used as an opportunity to crack jokes and learn more about her, according to the opinion.
After a month of pleading, the girl agreed to go out with him. After several dates, the physical contact between them escalated.
According to the opinion, Solis performed oral sex on her, which she reciprocated. Then he had sexual intercourse with her. Sometimes they would sneak out to the dumpster area behind the restaurant to have sex. Other times they would have sex in a park. In all, they had sex about forty times, and it was always unprotected.
The girl did not reveal the sexual relationship to her mother.
When the mother learned about the relationship from one of the girl’s coworkers, she went to Chipotle and confronted Osmin Turcios, the restaurant’s manager at the time and also a defendant in the suit, accusing him of covering for Solis.
“(The) mother … said that she intended to call the police, but she never did,” the opinion states. “She filed this civil lawsuit instead.”
Following the lawsuit, Chipotle conducted an internal investigation and terminated Solis, who then relocated to Mexico and failed to appear at the trial.
Chipotle is represented by Austin attorney Sean Jordan and also Kendra Beckwith, attorney for the Colorado law firm Messner Reeves.
The plaintiffs are represented by Houston attroneys Benjamin Hall III and Adrian Villacorta.
The suit was filed in Harris County District Court, case No. 2014-69341.
Appeals case No. 14-17-00162-CV.