$4 Million El Paso Verdict Preserved After Texas Supreme Court Blocks New Trial in Dealership Lot Injury Case

On the evening of December 27, 2013, Irma Vanessa Villegas finished her shift at Rudolph Mazda in El Paso and clocked out around 8 p.m. A sales manager had bought beer for employees working long holiday hours, and a group, including Villegas and fellow employee Christian Ruiz, drank on the premises after punching out. As Villegas moved through the dealership lot, Ruiz climbed into his truck and pulled toward the exit. He struck Villegas without seeing her.

The collision left Villegas with a traumatic brain injury and severe, permanently disabling injuries that confined her to a nursing home. Her daughter, Andrea Juarez, acting as permanent guardian of Villegas as an incapacitated person, brought suit against Rudolph Automotive, LLC and related dealership entities, asserting negligence, failure to train, and premises liability for the conditions that led to the after-hours collision on company property.

The case went to a three-week jury trial in El Paso. Scherr Legate attorneys James F. Scherr and Maxey Marie Scherr represented the plaintiff. The jury found in favor of the plaintiff and awarded more than $4 million in damages, covering past and future medical expenses, pain and suffering, impairment, disfigurement, mental anguish, and household services, while apportioning a share of responsibility to Villegas and other individuals involved. Villegas remained in nursing care and died in 2020, before the post-trial fight over the verdict reached the Texas Supreme Court.

Following the verdict, the trial court granted a motion for new trial on four stated grounds, including an arguable inconsistency in the jury's apportionment of fault and concerns about expert testimony regarding Villegas's drinking habits. Rudolph Automotive sought a writ of mandamus to block the new trial. The court of appeals declined to intervene, but the Texas Supreme Court agreed to take up the petition.

On June 16, 2023, the Texas Supreme Court conditionally granted mandamus relief. The court held that none of the four reasons cited by the trial court provided a legally valid basis for setting aside the jury's verdict. As to the expert testimony, the court found that the trial judge's curative instruction adequately addressed any prejudice. The Supreme Court directed the trial court to vacate its new-trial order, restoring the jury's award of more than $4 million to the Villegas family.