$1.94 Million Verdict Against ExxonMobil in Wrongful Death of Houston Father

Alfredo M. Pagayon, a Harris County toll booth attendant, arrived at an Exxon convenience store in Houston to pick up his son. His son, Alfredo G. Pagayon Jr., known as J.R., worked there as a cashier alongside a coworker named Carlos Cabulang, age 54. Weeks of friction between J.R. and Cabulang had escalated into verbal threats and harassment. J.R. reported the problem to the store manager and was told to ignore it. Shortly before the assault, Alfredo Sr. called Cabulang directly to demand the harassment stop; the conversation turned hostile.

When Alfredo entered the store the following Monday, Cabulang was already screaming and cursing at J.R. and Alfredo. Cabulang attacked Alfredo, punching him in the head and back. Bystanders separated them, and Alfredo left by ambulance. He died twenty-three days later from sepsis that developed into cardiac arrhythmia, respiratory failure, and renal failure.

Alfredo's widow, Delia Pagayon, and their family filed a wrongful death action in Harris County Probate Court No. 2. Attorneys Graham Sutliff and Hank Stout of Sutliff and Stout represented the plaintiffs, with Austin appellate lawyer Matthew Ploeger serving as co-counsel. The firm built its case around ExxonMobil's negligent supervision of Cabulang. Cabulang had no documented history of violence, but management had received J.R.'s complaints and taken no action. The firm argued that the warning signs of escalating hostility were present and that ExxonMobil's failure to intervene made the company responsible for what followed.

The jury agreed. It apportioned 75 percent of fault to ExxonMobil, 15 percent to J.R., and 10 percent to Alfredo, and returned a verdict of approximately $1.94 million for the family.

ExxonMobil challenged the verdict at the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston. That court affirmed the negligent supervision liability theory but reversed on a separate procedural issue and remanded for a new trial. The Pagayon family petitioned the Texas Supreme Court to restore the original verdict.

In June 2017, the Texas Supreme Court reversed both courts and rendered judgment in ExxonMobil's favor, eliminating the family's recovery. Chief Justice Nathan Hecht, writing for a seven-justice majority, held that an employer in this situation owed no legal duty to supervise its employees against the type of spontaneous conflict that arose here. The court reasoned that the likelihood a personal grievance over a phone call would escalate into a fatal fight was too low to impose a supervisory obligation on the company. The opinion is reported at Pagayon v. Exxon Mobil Corp., 536 S.W.3d 499 (Tex. 2017).