$150 billion award for Splendora fire victim's family
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Orignally Published Wednesday, December 21, 2011 on Chron.com
Robert Ray Middleton was set on fire near his home in Splendora on June 28, his 8th birthday. Photo: Chronicle / HC
LA GRANGE, Texas (AP) — An attorney says a Texas jury has awarded the largest verdict he has ever heard of — $150 billion to the family of a man who died 12 years after being set afire as an 8-year-old.
Robbie Middleton was set on fire near Splendora in Montgomery County on his 8th birthday in 1998.
Craig Sico says the punitive damage award is symbolic and the family expects none of it will be paid.
The defendant, Don Wilburn Collins, is currently imprisoned on an unrelated sexual assault charge. He was never charged and denies involvement in the 2010 death of 20-year-old Middleton.
Sico says he asked jurors to make a statement by topping the $145 billion Florida verdict against tobacco companies in 2000.
Neither Collins nor any attorney appeared for him at the civil trial. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice didn't respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
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