Hilario v. Newell Recycling of Atlanta

Summary

Erik Hilario, age 19, was working at Newell Recycling's East Point facility when he died in a fire. His parents brought the suit against various related corporate entries. He was working on a machine that punched holes in gas tanks to drain them before recycling. Plaintiffs allege that gasoline leaked out into sawdust where Hilario was standing. There are both product and premises liability claims in the case. Defendants claim the case is a worker's comp case, but the judge has ruled that the question of just which entity was Hilario's employer at the time is for the jury.

Outcome

Verdict for plaintiff:

Compensatory damages

Estate of Erik Hilario for pain and suffering $8,250,000
Hilario's parents for his wrongful death: $21,000,000

TOTAL: $29,250,000.

The jury also found plaintiffs were entitled to punitive damages, but the parties reached a confidential settlement on punitive damages before hearing evidence.

Jury found that Erik Hilario was an employee of Newell Recycling, LLC, at the time of his death.

Jury found against defendant Newell Recycling of Atlanta, Inc., on issue of product liability both for negligent design and failure to warn.

Case Information

Attorneys

Witnesses

Plaintiff: Hilario, Efrain
Defense: Newell Recycling of Atlanta
Verdict: $29,250,000

Judge: Diane Bessen
Jurisdiction: State Court of Georgia, Fulton County
Court: Justice Center Tower

Case Number: 12EV015400
Industry: Manufacturing
Practice Area: Negligence, Workers' Compensation, Products Liability

Plaintiff

Hilario, Efrain

Represented By:
Hamilton, Alan (Shiver Hamilton, LLC )
Summerville, Darren (The Summerville Firm )
Shiver, Jeffrey (Shiver Hamilton, LLC )

Defense

Newell Recycling of Atlanta

Sessions

Attorney

Witness

Type

Description

PM Session

Openings

6 Chapters

	Description	Attorney
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:06:40	Opening Statement	Hamilton, Alan
00:47:00	General Case Activities
00:59:57	Opening Statement	Hamilton, Alan
01:29:10	Opening Statement	Harris, Roger
01:59:40	End of Session

AUG

AM Session

Plaintiff Witness(es)

8 Chapters

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	Witness Cross Examination	Hamilton, Alan	Gomez, Roger	Video Recording
00:45:20	General Case Activities
01:26:56	Witness Cross Examination	Shiver, Jeffrey	Hernandez, Jorge	In Person
02:07:12	Witness Direct Examination	Hamilton, Alan	Vega, Juan	Transcript Reading
02:22:53	Witness Direct Examination	Hamilton, Alan	Maciel, Saul	Transcript Reading
02:28:50	Break
02:33:15	General Case Activities
03:11:45	End of Session

PM Session

Plaintiff Witness(es)

14 Chapters

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities	Hamilton, Alan	Thornton, Corey	In Person
00:09:06	Witness Direct Examination	Hamilton, Alan	Thornton, Corey	In Person
00:23:57	Witness Cross Examination	Clayton, D.	Thornton, Corey	In Person
00:28:55	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Hamilton, Alan	Thornton, Corey	In Person
00:33:31	Witness Direct Examination	Hamilton, Alan	Brani, Dr. David Ph.D., P.E.	In Person
01:28:25	Break
01:42:22	General Case Activities
01:44:35	Witness Cross Examination	Harris, Roger	Brani, Dr. David Ph.D., P.E.	In Person
02:00:42	General Case Activities
02:05:32	Witness Cross Examination	Harris, Roger	Brani, Dr. David Ph.D., P.E.	In Person
02:42:26	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Hamilton, Alan	Brani, Dr. David Ph.D., P.E.	In Person
02:47:39	Witness Cross Examination	Summerville, Darren	Price, Sherman	In Person
03:23:45	Witness Cross Examination	Hamilton, Alan	Crawford, Andre	Video Recording
03:46:47	End of Session

AUG

PM Session

Plaintiff Witness(es)

19 Chapters

AM Session

Plaintiff Witness(es)

8 Chapters

AUG

AM Session

Defense Witness(es)

8 Chapters

PM Session

Defense Witness(es)

14 Chapters

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	Witness Direct Examination	Harris, Roger	Snider, Perry	In Person
00:20:31	Witness Cross Examination	Shiver, Jeffrey	Snider, Perry	In Person
01:32:04	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Harris, Roger	Snider, Perry	In Person
01:34:32	Witness Re-Cross Examination	Shiver, Jeffrey	Snider, Perry	In Person
01:36:01	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Harris, Roger	Snider, Perry	In Person
01:37:26	General Case Activities
01:46:10	Break
02:02:01	General Case Activities
02:07:18	Witness Direct Examination	Edwards, Neil	Borras-Patino, Maria	In Person
02:38:35	Witness Cross Examination	Hamilton, Alan	Borras-Patino, Maria	In Person
02:52:21	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Edwards, Neil	Borras-Patino, Maria	In Person
02:53:00	Witness Re-Cross Examination	Hamilton, Alan	Borras-Patino, Maria	In Person
02:56:45	General Case Activities
03:07:31	End of Session

AUG

AM Session

Defense Witness(es)

6 Chapters

PM Session

Defense Witness(es)

8 Chapters

AUG

AM Session

Defense Witness(es)

11 Chapters

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	Witness Direct Examination	Clayton, D.	Cozzi, Frank	In Person
00:29:22	General Case Activities
00:33:49	Witness Direct Examination	Clayton, D.	Cozzi, Frank	In Person
00:35:00	Witness Cross Examination	Summerville, Darren	Cozzi, Frank	In Person
01:07:10	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Clayton, D.	Cozzi, Frank	In Person
01:10:00	Witness Direct Examination	Harris, Roger	Triesch, Gilbert III	In Person
01:43:27	Witness Cross Examination	Shiver, Jeffrey	Triesch, Gilbert III	In Person
02:24:26	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Harris, Roger	Triesch, Gilbert III	In Person
02:30:02	Witness Re-Cross Examination	Shiver, Jeffrey	Triesch, Gilbert III	In Person
02:34:13	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Harris, Roger	Triesch, Gilbert III	In Person
02:37:44	End of Session

PM Session

Defense Witness(es)

12 Chapters

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	Witness Direct Examination	Clayton, D.	Ward, Robert	In Person
01:17:00	General Case Activities
01:27:00	Break
01:41:59	General Case Activities
02:00:52	Witness Direct Examination	Clayton, D.	Ward, Robert	In Person
02:02:47	Witness Cross Examination	Hamilton, Alan	Ward, Robert	In Person
02:47:25	Break
02:52:34	General Case Activities
03:15:08	Witness Cross Examination	Hamilton, Alan	Ward, Robert	In Person
03:21:09	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Clayton, D.	Ward, Robert	In Person
03:30:35	Witness Re-Cross Examination	Hamilton, Alan	Ward, Robert	In Person
03:36:56	End of Session

SEP

PM Session

Verdict

5 Chapters

AM Session

Closings

10 Chapters

SEP

AM Session

Other

2 Chapters

AM Session

Other

2 Chapters

AM Session

Other

2 Chapters

SEP

Recording Disclaimer: This proceeding was recorded in full.

Hilario v. Newell Recycling of Atlanta

Summary

Outcome

Sessions

Suggest a Trial

CVN Essentials

Video Library

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:05:45	Witness Direct Examination	Hamilton, Alan	Flores, Gabina	Video Recording
00:18:11	Witness Direct Examination	Shiver, Jeffrey	Hilario, Efrain Sr.	In Person
00:50:28	Witness Direct Examination	Hamilton, Alan	Hilario, Efrain Jr.	In Person
00:57:58	General Case Activities
01:09:40	Witness Direct Examination	Hamilton, Alan	Hilario, Efrain Jr.	In Person
01:14:52	Witness Cross Examination	McGrew, Wayne	Hilario, Efrain Jr.	In Person
01:30:54	General Case Activities
01:33:22	Witness Cross Examination	McGrew, Wayne	Hilario, Efrain Jr.	In Person
01:36:34	Break
02:00:49	Witness Cross Examination	McGrew, Wayne	Hilario, Efrain Jr.	In Person
02:02:06	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Hamilton, Alan	Hilario, Efrain Jr.	In Person
02:07:24	Witness Re-Cross Examination	McGrew, Wayne	Hilario, Efrain Jr.	In Person
02:08:47	General Case Activities
02:15:17	Witness Direct Examination	Summerville, Darren	Ingram, Dr. Walter	In Person
02:31:21	Witness Cross Examination	Edwards, Neil	Ingram, Dr. Walter	In Person
02:44:38	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Summerville, Darren	Ingram, Dr. Walter	In Person
02:45:10	Witness Re-Cross Examination	Edwards, Neil	Ingram, Dr. Walter	In Person
02:50:22	End of Session

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:43:50	Witness Direct Examination	Hamilton, Alan	Doherty, Dennis	Video Recording
01:12:16	Witness Cross Examination	Shiver, Jeffrey	Carrico, Joe	In Person
02:10:59	General Case Activities
02:12:01	Break
02:27:39	General Case Activities
02:40:33	Witness Direct Examination	Hamilton, Alan	Sullivan, Dr. Karen M.D.	Video Recording
03:09:25	End of Session

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
01:11:15	Break
01:25:18	Witness Direct Examination	Harris, Roger	Snider, Perry	In Person
02:39:05	General Case Activities
02:41:27	Break
02:54:46	General Case Activities
03:00:00	Witness Direct Examination	Harris, Roger	Snider, Perry	In Person
03:29:16	End of Session

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
01:30:13	General Case Activities
01:31:42	Witness Direct Examination	Harris, Roger	Gomez, Roger	Video Recording
02:25:44	Witness Direct Examination	Edwards, Neil	Thomas, Don	In Person
02:40:07	Witness Cross Examination	Hamilton, Alan	Thomas, Don	In Person
03:07:59	End of Session

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:01:52	Witness Direct Examination	Harris, Roger	Crawford, Andre	Video Recording
00:09:35	Witness Direct Examination	Harris, Roger	Smith, Joseph	In Person
01:25:47	General Case Activities
01:27:20	Break
01:45:15	Witness Cross Examination	Shiver, Jeffrey	Smith, Joseph	In Person
02:18:29	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Harris, Roger	Smith, Joseph	In Person
02:24:10	End of Session

			Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
		00:00:00	General Case Activities
		00:02:20	Reading of the Verdict
		00:08:55	General Case Activities
		00:10:00	General Case Activities
		00:15:08	End of Session

	Description	Attorney
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:45:13	Closing Statement	Shiver, Jeffrey
01:57:13	General Case Activities
02:00:48	Break
02:15:15	Closing Statement	Harris, Roger
03:32:50	Break
03:42:48	Closing Statement	Hamilton, Alan
04:22:11	General Case Activities
04:27:33	General Case Activities
05:20:01	End of Session