Werner Enters. v. Blake
Decision Date | 18 May 2023 |
Docket Number | 14-18-00967-CV |
Parties | WERNER ENTERPRISES, INC. AND SHIRAZ A. ALI, Appellants v. JENNIFER BLAKE, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS NEXT FRIEND FOR NATHAN BLAKE, AND AS HEIR OF THE ESTATE OF ZACHERY BLAKE, DECEASED; AND ELDRIDGE MOAK, IN HIS CAPACITY AS GUARDIAN OF THE ESTATE OF BRIANA BLAKE, Appellees |
Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
On Appeal from the 127th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 2015-36666
En banc court consists of Chief Justice Christopher and Justices Wise, Jewell, Bourliot, Zimmerer, Spain, Hassan, Poissant and Wilson. Justice Hassan authored the En Banc Majority Opinion, in which Justices Bourliot, Zimmerer, Spain, and Poissant joined.
EN BANC MAJORITY OPINION
A trucking company and its employee-trainee-driver appeal the trial court's judgment awarding over $100 million after a twenty-five-day trial over six weeks that produced a 4,733-page Reporter's Record, a 5,882-page Clerk's Record, 28,657 pages of exhibits, and appellate briefs from both parties that permissibly exceeded rule-imposed word limits. A majority of this Court voted to consider this matter en banc. We affirm.
Appellants Werner Enterprises Inc. and Shiraz A. Ali (together "Appellants") frame their appeal as raising six issues: (1) legal and factual sufficiency with respect to the jury's negligence liability finding against the driver (Ali), (2) legal and factual sufficiency with respect to the jury's negligence liability findings against the trucking company (Werner), (3) jury charge issues, (4) apportionment issues, (5) admission of five different pieces of evidence and (6) the jury's award of future medical care expenses.
Trey Salinas was driving a vehicle with Jennifer Blake and her three children on eastbound Interstate 20 ("I-20") near Odessa, Texas on December 30, 2014, during a National Weather Service Winter Storm Warning. Salinas lost control of the vehicle and it crossed the 42-foot-wide grassy median before colliding with an 18-wheeler traveling over 40 miles per hour. Ali was driving the 18-wheeler, which was owned by Werner Enterprises (the "Werner Truck").
As a result of the collision, seven-year-old Zachery Blake died, his 12-year-old sister, Brianna Blake, suffered a severe traumatic brain injury and was rendered a quadriplegic, and fourteen-year-old Nathan Blake suffered a broken shoulder blade, broken collar bone, bruised lung, and other injuries. Jennifer Blake suffered a mild traumatic brain injury, contusions, a hematoma, and other injuries.
Appellees Jennifer Blake, individually and as next friend for Nathan Blake and as heir of the estate of Zachary Blake, and Eldridge Moak, in his capacity as Guardian of the Estate of Brianna Blake (together, "the Blakes"), sued Appellants for damages stemming from the collision. The jury found both Appellants liable and assessed over $100 million in damages. The trial court signed a final judgment on July 30, 2018. Appellants timely appealed.
The jury heard the following:
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