HOUSTON – A Texas appellate court has upheld a jury verdict of $1.68 million in damages in a date-rape lawsuit.
In January 2016, Lina Hammad filed suit against Mohammad Jamal and Mohammad Khan, alleging the men sexually assaulted her after the trio left a Houston nightclub.
Court records show Hammad met the men at Khan’s Houston apartment on Dec. 10, 2015. Hammad was offered an alcoholic drink and had a few sips. The group then went out to a nightclub and continued to drink.
While out on the club’s patio, Khan tried to kiss Hammad, but she pushed him away and went to stand by Jamal. Hammad testified that Jamal started kissing her and she kissed back. After that point, Hammad said she blacked out.”
After blacking out, Hammad said she only had “three flashes” of memory:
- A man’s penis in her face;
- Jamal putting her in the shower and laughing at her; and
- Jamal sitting her on the bed and asking her if she “was okay,” while there was a nude man in the background.
According to Hammad, she woke up naked the next morning with blood on the sheets and a naked Khan lying next to her. Hammad grabbed her things and left Khan’s apartment. Hammad said she called Jamal to ask what had happened the previous night, and Jamal told her she was “drunk” and “throwing up everywhere.”
Hammad got in her car to drive away and said she was “dizzy” and had “blurry vision.” When Hammad returned to her home, she noticed there were bruises on her body. She went to the emergency room the next day and photographs were taken of bruises on her legs, arms, chest, and buttocks.
Court records show the emergency room’s medical records noted the following under Clinical Impressions:
- Suspected sexual assault;
- Assault by bodily force;
- Multiple contusions to the left chest, right buttocks, right upper arm, right thigh, right knee and right lower leg and left thigh, left knee and left lower leg; and Possible exposure to STD.
At trial, an expert testified that Hammad’s symptoms were consistent with someone who was given a date-rape drug and that even though there was no evidence in Hammad’s bloodstream or urine, the point of date-rape drugs is that they don’t show up.
The jury awarded Hammad $685,300 in compensatory damages and a total of $1 million in exemplary damages against Jamal and Khan.
In 2018, the trial court signed a final judgment. A motion for a new trial was denied and an appeal ensued.
On April 9, the 14th Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s final judgment.
Appeals case No. 14-18-00945-CV