Waco Trib By TOMMY WITHERSPOON 5/4/2018
A Houston appeals court has thrown out a $17.7 million jury verdict against the contractor directing work on a pedestrian bridge at Baylor University where a worker drowned.
The 1st Court of Appeals in Houston ruled Thursday that the worker's family legally was barred from suing the contractor for negligence, because the worker was covered by worker’s comp insurance through a program implemented by Baylor and its contractors. There also was no evidence of gross negligence by the contractor, the court said.
Austin Bridge & Road was the general contractor for the Sheila and Walter Umphrey Bridge that spanned the Brazos River from Baylor University to McLane Stadium. In 2014, Jose Dario Suarez, 55, drowned when the hydraulic lift to which he was strapped rolled off a barge and pulled him underwater.
In April 2016, a Harris County jury awarded the worker’s family $17.7 million. But the appeals court reversed the verdict and rendered judgment that the plaintiffs take nothing.
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