Jury sends message to Charter with $7 billion verdict over murder of customer

A Texas jury ordered Charter Communications to pay $7 billion in damages for the murder of an elderly woman by a cable technician. The jury returned a $7 billion verdict on Tuesday, after finding Charter liable for $337 million in damages.

A judge can reduce the damages. Charter doesn't want to be held responsible for the murder. After less than two hours of deliberations, the jury reached a $7 billion verdict after finding that Charter's negligent behavior was a major cause of the death.

Chris Hamilton, one of the family's lawyers, said in a press release Tuesday that this was a shocking breach of faith by the company. The jury was attentive and thoughtful in their deliberations. The jury's verdict shows the extent of the harm caused by Charter Spectrum's gross negligent behavior.

Roy Holden was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Betty Thomas. One day after a call, he killed Thomas. The murder was described in the pressrelease.

Mr. Holden performed a service call in Ms. Thomas' home the day before her December 2019 murder. Although Charter contended he was off-duty the following day, he managed to learn that Ms.Thomas had reported that she was still having problems with her service and used his company key card to enter a Charter Spectrum secured vehicle lot and drove his Charter Spectrum van to her house. Once inside, while fixing her fax machine, the victim, Ms. Thomas, caught the field tech stealing her credit cards from her purse. The Charter Spectrum field tech, Roy Holden, then brutally stabbed the 83-year-old customer with a utility knife supplied by Charter Spectrum and went on a spending spree with her credit cards.

Charter accused of forgery

According to the press release, Charter Spectrum attorneys used a forged document to try to force the lawsuit into a closed-door arbitration where the results would have been secret and the damages for the murder would have been limited. Charter Spectrum's conduct was found to be a first-degree felony by the jury.

According to the Dallas Morning News, the jury agreed that Charter forged the documents.

Charterhired Roy Holden without verification of his employment history, which would have revealed that he had lied about his work history, and thatsupervisors ignored a series of red flags, including Mr. Holden's own written pleas to upper management for help. The field tech's theft and crimes against the victim began while he was on duty and in the course of his employment with Charter Spectrum.

Damages likely to be lowered based on precedent

There is a chance that a judge will reduce the penalty. According to a Wall Street Journal article, a Texas civil- trial lawyer said that damages like that are never paid. The jury was frustrated with the facts.

Brian Kabateck, a consumer attorney from California, was quoted by the WSJ as saying that it was a breathtaking amount of punitive damages. The verdict is going to be short-lived. The judge is likely to take a dim view of the size of the verdict and cut it down.

According to a 2003 ruling by the US Supreme Court, few awards exceeding a single-digit ratio between punishment and compensation will satisfy due process. The ruling said that such ratios are not binding, but that "single-digit multipliers are more likely to comport with due process, while still achieving the State's goals of deterrence and retribution."

In April, a US District Court judge in California reduced the jury's verdict from $130 million to $13.5 million because of that precedent. The judge wrote that a nine-to-one ratio was justified and constitutional in that case.

The Charter case would result in a nine-to-one ratio.