HOUSTON – A Texas appellate court recently affirmed a jury award of $1,350,000 following a trial of a personal injury lawsuit.
In 2016, Jennifer Kwas, filed suit against Julio Martinez and Lone Star Disposal.
A year earlier, Kwas alleges she was injured when a dump truck, owned by Lone Star Disposal and driven by Martinez, struck an ambulance she was riding in as a paramedic for the city of La Porte.
Kwas was working with a patient when the collision occurred.
According to witnesses, the ambulance was passing through an intersection with lights flashing and sirens sounding when the dump truck, which could not stop in time, swerved and tipped over on top of the ambulance, spilling its load of broken concrete onto the ambulance and roadway.
Witnesses testified that they saw the dump truck pass stopped cars in the left lane of the intersection. One witness stated that the collision could have been avoided if the truck driver had heeded the warning lights and sirens.
Kwas stopped being a paramedic following the incident.
At trial, a jury found the defendants negligent, awarding Kwas $400,000 in past damages, $700,000 for her future pain and mental anguish, plus $250,000 in punitive damages.
Court records show the trial court rendered judgment based on the jury’s verdict.
On appeal, Lone Star argued the trial court erred in admitting evidence of certain motor vehicle citations issued to Lone Star drivers and in allowing Kwas’ accident reconstruction expert to give “speculative” opinions.
Lone Star further contended that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury’s finding of gross negligence and award of damages for future pain and mental anguish.
On June 4, the First Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s judgment.
“We … observe that the amount awarded is not disproportionately large when weighed against the effect of the crash on Kwas’s life and the resulting effect on her mental state, which led her to abandon a career path that had previously been meaningful to her and for which she had spent years training and gaining experience,” the opinion states.
Appeal case No. 01-18-01085-CV