Robert C. Hilliard (attorney)

Robert C. Hilliard

Robert C. Hilliard is an American plaintiff's lawyer,^[1] who is the founding partner of Hilliard Munoz Gonzales, LLP^[2] and Hilliard & Shadowen, LLP.^[3]

Robert C. Hilliard

Background

Mr. Hilliard graduated with honors from St. Mary's University School of Law, in San Antonio, Texas in 1983.^[4] He also holds a bachelor's degree in English from St. Edward's University (St. Edward's University) in Austin, Texas, where he enrolled on a tennis scholarship and graduated, Summa Cum Laude, in 1980.^[5] While at St. Edwards, Mr. Hilliard was a four-year letterman in tennis, captain of the tennis team, and St. Edward's University's Athlete of the Year. In 1989, Mr. Hilliard was inducted into the St. Edward's Athletics Hall of Fame.^[6] In 1994, the Texas Tennis Association recognized Mr. Hilliard for his achievement of reaching a top 10 nationals singles ranking.

In 1986, Mr. Hilliard founded the law firm of Hilliard Muñoz Gonzales, LLP, in Corpus Christi, Texas.^[7] The firm has gained a national and international reputation for representing clients in the United States and Mexico—bringing corporations to account for the harm caused by their vehicles, negligence, or unsafe products.^[8] In 2015, Hilliard was honored with the National Law Journal's Elite Trial Lawyer of the Year award, taking home the gold in the Motor Vehicles category for his work in the General Motors and Toyota litigations.^[9]

In 2012, Mr. Hilliard founded Hilliard & Shadowen, LLP, in Austin, Texas, a law firm that engages in antitrust and civil rights litigation, to pursue economic and social justice on behalf of individuals and businesses that have been hurt by corporate and institutional wrongdoing.^[10]

Notable Cases

Border Shooting Litigation

Mr. Hilliard represents the 15-year-old unarmed victim of a 2010 shooting by a U.S. Border Patrol agent, and the victim in a 2011 killing of another Mexican citizen by the U.S. Border Patrol, which sparked a confrontation between former Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.^[11] For the first time in United States history, a Court held that a Mexican national, standing in Mexico, possesses Fifth Amendment constitutional rights that allow him to sue a United States Border Patrol Agent for excessive use of force across the U.S. border. The Fifth Circuit granted rehearing en banc of the panel’s decision and held oral argument on Jan. 21, 2015. The Fifth Circuit vacated the Panel's decision.^[12]

On October 11, 2016, the United States Supreme Court granted Mr. Hilliard's Petition for Writ of Certiorari to determine if a Mexican citizen standing in Mexico has protections against being wrongly shot by a border patrol agent standing in the United States. Mr. Hilliard will present oral argument on behalf of the Hernandez family to the Supreme Court in January 2017.

Orlando Shooting

In the wake of the horrific massacre at Pulse Nightclub (Pulse nightclub shooting) in Orlando, Mr. Hilliard announced that he has been asked to represent one of the families of a victim of the Orlando shooting. Mr. Hilliard stated he intends to file a lawsuit against Sig Sauer, Inc. (SIG Sauer) and Glock, Inc.Glock the gun makers that manufacture and market the military-style weapons used by shooter Omar Mateen in what is believed to be the deadliest mass slaughter in U.S. history.

The family of Miguel Angel Honorato, hired Mr. Hilliard to help in the wake of the Orlando tragedy. Mr. Honorato, a 30-year-old resident of Apopka, FL, was at Pulse Nightclub with friends on June 12 when he was shot to death. Mr. Honorato’s friends were able to escape from the nightclub as the shooting spree began. Unfortunately, Mr. Honorato, lost his life during the massacre, leaving behind his wife, Minerva Mederos Jimenez and their three young children, Miguel Angel Jr., age 14; Joel, age 2; and Julian age 1. Mr. Honorato is remembered as a hardworking, family man who was passionate about many things in life: his wife and children, family cookouts, looking after his six siblings, his dreams of owning his own business and his love for soccer.^[13]

Mr. Hilliard also represents the parents of Miguel Angel Honorato, Alejandrino and Paulina Honorato.

In Re General Motors Ignition Switch Litigation

Mr. Hilliard was appointed by Federal Judge Jesse Furman, of the Southern District of New York, as Co-Lead counsel in the National GM Ignition Switch Litigation, where he has primary responsibility for all death and injury cases.^[14] This multi-district lawsuit is considered the single largest product liability litigation in U.S. history.^[15]

The effects of the General Motors Ignition Switch are wide-ranging. In 2004, before the defect became known to the public, Candice Anderson, 21, was driving a Saturn Ion when she lost control of the vehicle and crashed.^[16] Her finance, Gene Mikale Erickson, a passenger in the car, died at the scene.^[17] Ms. Anderson pleaded guilty to criminally negligence homicide, believing the crash was her fault.^[18] In 2007, five months before Ms. Anderson entered her guilty plea, G.M. had conducted an internal review of the crash and ruled the car was to blame, but never told Ms. Anderson or law enforcement officials.^[19] In 2014, Mr. Hilliard fought to clear Ms. Anderson's record, and prevailed; a judge in Van Zandt County cleared Ms. Anderson's record.^[20]

In August 2015, Mr. Hilliard also successfully argued that a Pennsylvania Judge overturn the criminal conviction of Lakisha Ward Green.^[21] In September 2010, Ms. Ward-Green was driving Robert Chambers home from school in her 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt, when the ignition suddenly went into the accessory position, causing her to lose power steering and braking. The vehicle left the Pittsburgh roadway and slammed into a pole, instantly killing the 16-year-old-boy. The airbags did not deploy. Mr. Hilliard argued that the 2007 Cobalt's defective ignition switch caused Ms. Ward-Green to lose control of her vehicle and that the failure of the airbags to deploy in a violent head-on collision caused the death of Mr. Chambers.^[22] The Judge agreed with Mr. Hilliard and granted her petition for Post-Conviction relief, and in so doing, overturned her involuntary manslaughter and reckless driver convictions.^[23]

In September 2016, General Motors settled two bellwether cases.^[24] Of the settlement, Hilliard stated, "GM's willingness to resolve [these] claims ...creates momentum to continue the process of full resolution of all cases."^[25]

Toyota Sudden Unintended Acceleration

Mr. Hilliard represented Koua Fong Lee, a Hmong immigrant wrongfully convicted of vehicular homicide after engaging in a vehicle accident where his Toyota Camry experienced sudden unintended acceleration, causing the death and injury of five people.^[26] Mr. Lee served two and a half years of an eight-year prison sentence before Mr. Hilliard gained his release by proving that the accident was in fact caused by Toyota’s design defect. Mr. Hilliard went on to win an $11.4 million jury verdict in a subsequent civil suit, the largest of its kind against Toyota.^[27]

Major League Baseball Litigation

In 2015, Mr. Hilliard filed a class action lawsuit against the Commissioner of Baseball seeking enhanced safety measures to protect fans down the first and third base lines.^[28] Recent reports indicate that “[a]bout 1,750 spectators get hurt each year by batted balls, mostly fouls, at major league games, or at least twice every three games.”^[29] The lawsuit contends that the lack of safety netting at major and minor league ballparks is a problem creating over a thousand horrific and preventable injuries, such as blindness, skull fractures, severe concussions and brain hemorrhages by foul balls.

Medical Insurance Denial Litigation

Mr. Hilliard actively fights insurance companies who deny medical treatment to deserving individuals. In 2015, he obtained an Order from a Newton County judge granting a restraining order against Aetna Insurance, preventing the insurance company from denying life-saving cancer treatment for his client, Bobby Allen Bean.^[30]

Mr. Bean, a 1973 graduate of Newton County High School who has lived in Newton with his wife for over forty years, is suffering from advanced prostate cancer and is currently being treated at Houston's MD Anderson. Based upon Mr. Bean's medical history, his doctors have recommended that he receive Proton Radiation Therapy; the only other options to treat the cancer are too risky for Mr. Bean because he also suffers from insulin-dependent Type 2 diabetes. Despite his doctor's recommendations, his medical insurance carrier, Aetna, has refused to cover the treatment, claiming that it is "experimental." ^[31]

Hilliard commented: "Aetna wants to play God and decided that my client's life is not worth the expense. It is ridiculous that some person behind a desk at Aetna, without a medical degree or experience in fighting cancer, let alone experience in treating Bobby personally, is allowed to second guess the sound judgment of renowned doctors at the single best cancer center in the world and their patient who is battling an aggressive and deadly form of cancer."^[32]

"Aetna gladly accepted Bobby's premiums for all of these years. Promised him, though his policy, that they would be there when he needed them. Now, when it is their turn to fork over some cash to pay for this treatment, they do the math and make excuses. Bobby was born and raised in south east Texas—he's a true Texas cowboy and a good man. Aetna needs to 'cowboy up' and do the right thing"^[33]

The website for the National Association for Proton Therapy notes that "Proton beam therapy is neither experimental nor investigational. It is an established form of treatment that is widely accepted by physicians, government agencies and many insurers, including Medicare and Medicaid (which do not cover investigational or experimental treatments)."

"It's time that we take a stand against medical insurance companies who ask: how can we save a dollar, instead of how can we save a life."^[34]

Volkswagen "CleanDiesel" Scandal

Mr. Hilliard has filed a nationwide class-action lawsuit and one Texas state class-action against Volkswagen for circumventing emissions rules and cheating pollution tests in violation of state laws and consumers’ rights. Volkswagen had admitted it used a “defeat device” software to cheat emissions standards in certain diesel model vehicles.

Mr. Hilliard was the first attorney in the country to obtain a court order enjoining Volkswagen from selling new 2015 and 2016 vehicles containing the defeat device, pointing out that “although Volkswagen has voluntarily said it intends to discontinue selling these illegal vehicles, it is important that there is judicial oversight in Texas regarding this decision in case the company suddenly gets buyer’s remorse.”

In 2015, Mr. Hilliard was retained by Bexar, Nueces, and Webb Counties in Texas to file environmental enforcement actions against VW. In Bexar County, there are approximately 3000 affected vehicles. The Texas Water Code allows counties to file suit for violations of certain provisions of the Texas Health and Safety Code. The violations carry stiff fines—not less than $50 and not more than $25,000 for each day of each violation. VW has admitted that vehicles as early as 2009 were affected.^[35][36] In early 2016, Mr. Hilliard was appointed to the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee in the Texas Environmental Enforcement Action in the Texas MDL.

Chevy Cruze Litigation

Mr. Hilliard is also involved in a national class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in California, alleging General Motors Co. and Chevrolet falsely and deceptively marketed its Cruze Diesel as a “clean vehicle.” The suit also claims that GM and Chevy used emissions-cheating software that allowed the vehicles to pollute at higher than standard levels.

The lawsuit is seeking buybacks, reimbursement for the $2,000 or more premium customers paid over the gasoline Cruze model and compensation based on any “fix” and extended warranties that aren’t used. The lawsuit also seeks punitive damages.^[37]

References