Dallas, TX – A Texas state court jury slammed cable company Charter Communications, also known as Spectrum, with a massive $7 billion punitive damages verdict on Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by the family of an elderly woman murdered in her home by a company field technician.
Tuesday’s verdict comes on top of $375 million in compensatory damages already awarded to relatives of Betty Thomas following an earlier phase of the trial that began in early June.
Thomas’ family accused Charter of negligently hiring former employee Roy James Holden, who stabbed Thomas to death after attempting to rob her the day after performing service work on her telephone line. Holden was not on the clock during the incident, but he did arrive in his company van wearing his uniform and stabbed Thomas to death using a company-issued knife.
The family’s lawsuit claimed Charter failed to perform an adequate background check on Holden, which their attorneys argued would have shown he largely fabricated his work history, and that requests to supervisors for more work hours and personal loans should have raised red flags that he posed a danger to customers.
Charter argued that Holden, who is currently serving a lifetime prison sentence for the murder, was solely responsible for Thomas’ death. They cited Holden’s positive record of customer reviews and maintained the company should not be held liable for actions Holden took while off duty and without the awareness or assistance of anyone at the company.
The full trial was webcast and recorded gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network, the only news media organization in the country dedicated to video coverage of civil trials that matter to the professional community. Unlimited on-demand access to both phases of the trial, including all witness testimony, is included with a subscription to CVN’s online trial video library along with access to hundreds of other civil trials in state courts throughout the United States.