The nearly 30-foot fall that killed Hernan Murillo took five seconds.
The scene begins inside the Frito-Lay facility in Irving, with Murillo and two other electricians working to string new electrical wires from the platform of a blue scissor lift. Warehouse security footage shows them only in jeans.
But when a worker in a yellow vest supported the 14,000-pound orange boom lift and pushed it onto the legs supporting the platform Murillo and two other workers were standing on, it collapsed. At first, workers began to fall into the frame.
A worker's orange vest appears, then a white helmet. Before the scissor lift hits the ground, it bounces off a stack of wooden pallets and falls onto the gray floor. Besides the orange dots and helmets, the statues of his three workers are obscured by a collapsed platform.
The video led a Dallas County jury to award $72 million in damages to Laura Lopez, the widow of Hernan Murillo, who was 40 at the time of his death in 2019, and her four children.
“When this tragedy occurred, a woman was robbed of her husband and four children from their father,” said Charla Aldous, an attorney representing the Murillo family and Aldous Walker. “Now, almost five years later, this jury has given some justice to the family.”
A jury found Walker Engineering, a Texas construction services company based in Irving, responsible for Murillo's death. The boom lift operator lacked training that could have prevented the accident, Aldous said. Evidence, including a video of the fall, was key to the jury's verdict, she said.
Frito-Lay, which contracted to upgrade the Irving facility, subcontracted some of the work to Walker Engineering, which blamed its subsidiary Walker Industrial for the accident.
Lawyers for the company argued in court filings that there was insufficient evidence to prove that the boom lift operator was employed by Walker Industrial and worked for Walker Engineering. The Walker company's address, phone number and website are the same.
Neither attorneys representing the company nor Walker Engineering responded to requests for comment about the ruling or the latest safety measures.
Throughout the trial, Walker Engineering argued that there was insufficient evidence that it was responsible for Murillo's death and that the wrongful death lawsuit should be dismissed. Murillo claimed responsibility for the accident after he moved the scissor lift closer to the boom lift.
After three days of deliberation, the jury found Walker Engineering Co. 65% responsible for the accident and Walker Industrial Co. 35% responsible, and under Texas law, Walker Engineering Co. was liable for damages. You will be responsible for the entire amount. Aldous said the amount is much higher than the $1.25 million settlement.
“Our hope is that this result shows that corporate shell games do not protect companies from liability,” Aldous said. “We hope this sends a message to other employers of skilled workers to not just pay lip service to safety, but to put it into practice.”
