Death in 2019 Frito-Lay industrial accident results in $72 million jury award for family

The 30-foot fall that led Hernan Murillo to his death took five seconds.

The scene begins inside a Frito-Lay facility in Irving, as Murillo and two other electrical engineers work to string new electrical lines from the platform of a blue scissor lift. They’re visible in the warehouse’s security film by just their jeans.

But when a worker in a yellow vest backs a 14,000-pound orange boom lift into the legs supporting the platform Murillo and the two other workers are standing on, it begins to topple over and the workers begin to fall into frame.

The workers’ orange vests appear, then their white hardhats. Before the scissor lift reaches the ground, it bounces off a stack of wooden pallets then onto the gray floor. Besides a dot of orange and a hard hat, the image of the three workers is obstructed by the collapsed platform.

It’s the video that led a Dallas County jury to award $72 million to Laura Lopez, the widow of Hernan Murillo, who was 40 at the time of his death, and their four children.

“When this tragedy happened, it deprived a woman of her husband and four children of her father,” said Charla Aldous, an attorney with AldousWalker, who represents the Murillo family. “Now, nearly five years later, this jury has given the family some measure of justice.”

The jury found Irving-based Walker Engineering, a Texas construction services company, liable in the death of Murillo. The boom lift operator lacked the training that could have made this accident preventable, Aldous said. Evidence, including the video showing the fall, was key to the jury’s verdict, she said.

The company Frito-Lay contracted to make updates to its Irving facility subcontracted some of its work to Walker Engineering, which placed blame for the accident on its subsidiary company, Walker Industrial.

In court filings, the firm’s attorneys argued that the operator of the boom lift was employed by Walker Industrial and that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that he worked for Walker Engineering. The Walker companies have the same address, phone number and website.

An attorney representing the firm Nor Walker Engineering responded to requests for comment about the verdict or updated safety measures.

Throughout the trial, Walker Engineering maintained that there wasn’t sufficient evidence that it was liable for Murillo’s death and that the wrongful death action should be dismissed. It argued that Murillo was responsible for the accident after he moved the scissor lift near the boom lift.

After three days of deliberation, the jury found that Walker Engineering was 65% liable for the accident and Walker Industrial was 35% liable, which under Texas law makes Walker Engineering responsible for the full award. It far exceeds the settlement offer of $1.25 million, Aldous said.

“Our hope is that this will show that corporate shell games will not shield corporations from legal liability,” Aldous said. “We hope it sends a message to other employers of skilled labor not to give lip service to safety but to actually commit to it.”