VIDEO – James Scherr Wins $34 Million Largest Railroad Wrongful Death Verdict against Union Pacific Railroad

The Jose Torres Story examines how El Paso attorney Jim Scherr successfully represented Jose Torres and won one of the largest railroad verdicts for a single-family death against Union Pacific Railroad, $34 million dollars. The trial court found that the Union Pacific engineers ran down and killed Flora Torres, a loving mother of three children, and her eight-year-old daughter, even though they had plenty of time to stop. Over 1,700 feet before impact, they didn’t slow down; they accelerated.

Torres and her daughter were walking across from their home, heading over to deliver burritos to her husband. It’s an area where people cross the tracks every day, all day long, and the railroad knew it.

According to Scherr, the railroad company had the idea that it’s their road tracks, and people don’t have any business there. It’s your job to get out of the way. It’s the same as if you’re driving down the driveway at your house, and someone’s on your property. Scherr explains, “If you see a kid playing in your driveway, you take the position that you don’t have to stop. It’s my driveway, and that’s basically their attitude. We don’t have to stop, it’s our train tracks, and they can just get out of the way. We’re going to hit them.”

Scherr and the other attorneys on the case proved the Union Pacific train engineers saw that the mom and daughter were walking. They carried a sun umbrella that blocked the view of the train. The train’s engineer kept up at speed; it was traveling about 48 miles an hour, and it actually picked up speed to bring it up to 49 miles an hour. Instead of slowing down, where they had plenty of time and distance to bring the train to a stop, the train kept on going and hit and killed them. The jury awarded family survivor Jose Flores $34 million, one of the largest verdicts in history against Union Pacific.