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Personal Injury Attorney El Paso
LAS CRUCES - The state Appeals Court on Tuesday reaffirmed a judgment of more than $165 million against FedEx over a 2011 crash west of Las Cruces that killed three people and left a baby severely injured.
The lawsuit stemmed from a nighttime crash in which a FedEx-contracted big rig truck slammed into a parked or slow-moving GMC passenger truck at Mile 117 on Interstate 10 — about 20 miles west of Las Cruces.
Two of the three occupants in the pickup were killed: 22-year-old Marialy Venegas Morga and her 4-year-old daughter, Ylairam Morga, both of El Paso. Surviving was Venegas Morga's son, Yahir Morga, who was 1 at the time, according to Sun-News archives.
The driver of the contracted FedEx truck, El Pasoan Elizabeth Quintana, also died as a result.
Read: Police ID man killed in Las Cruces crash
Marialy Venegas' husband, Alfredo Morga, wasn't traveling with his family at the time of the crash. He later filed a personal injury and wrongful death lawsuit against FedEx over the loss of his wife and daughter. Marialy Venegas' parents — Rene Venegas Lopez and Georgina Leticia Venegas — also joined in the lawsuit.
FedEx's appeal
In January 2015, a Santa Fe jury issued a $165.5 million verdict in the case, the largest civil award in New Mexico history. FedEx sought a new trial or a decrease in the judgment award from a state judge, which was denied.
FedEx then appealed to the New Mexico Court of Appeals, arguing the state judge had been mistaken in rejecting the request for a new trial or a lower judgment. The company argued the verdict was "not supported by substantial evidence" and was "tainted by passion, prejudice, partiality, sympathy, undue influence, or a mistaken measure of damages," according to court records.
The Appeals Court, however, rejected the company's argument.
"(W)e affirm the jury's verdict," Tuesday's opinion states.
Attorney James Scherr of El Paso, who represented the Morgas, said the Appeals Court issued a well-reasoned legal opinion that backs up the authority of juries to decide important issues. He said the lawsuit exposed FedEx's business practice at the time of outsourcing its truck driving to contractors, who drove vehicles with FedEx logos. He said those drivers didn't have safety training for driving early-morning hours, the "most dangerous time to be on the road."
"FedEx needs to take responsibility for what they did," he said.
