Arguing that Caterpiller Inc, the world's largest manufacturer of bulldozers and heavy-duty construction machinery, valued profit over safety and failed to recall a line of defective equipment, Houston attorney Mark Lanier secured a damages award of more than $56 million for a man who was paralyzed while using a piece of defective Caterpiller equipment.

According to Bloomberg reports of the trial, Lanier told jurors that Caterpillar officials knew in 2002 that their line of Wheel Tractor 623 G Scrapers had electronic-control defects that caused the machines to unexpectedly bounce. Instead of immediately recalling the tractors, Caterpillar officials delayed for two years to avoid spending $3.5 million to repair all the machines

Alfonso Lopez, 41, was using one of the scrapers, which sells for $518,000, to help build a subdivision north of Dallas in August 2006 when the machine "suddenly and without warning began dramatically bouncing up and down," according to court papers. The scraper's bucking caused Lopez's seat to fail and slammed him against the machine's frame, according to Lanier. Lopez suffered spinal injuries and a punctured lung in the accident and is now paralyzed from the waist down. The suit alleged "black box" data from the scraper's on- board computer shows the tractor had defects in the electrical controls that governed its transmission, Lanier said earlier in the case.

Lanier, founder of The Lanier Law Firm, and Frank Herrera Jr. of The Herrera Law Firm represented Mr. Lopez in the 12-day trial. During closing arguments, Lanier asked jurors to award damages based on the defective design, manufacturing and marketing of the Caterpillar 623 G Wheel Tractor Scraper. Mr. Lanier also asked for damages from Holt Cat of Texas for negligently maintaining the scraper. Jurors awarded $15,860,368 in actual damages, assessing 90 percent responsibility against Caterpillar and 10 percent against Holt Texas. The jury also awarded $40 million against Caterpillar and $500,000 against Holt Texas, the dealership that sold the scraper, in punitive damages.

According to Bloomberg, Peter Holt, chairman and chief executive officer of Holt Texas, is also majority owner of the National Basketball Association's San Antonio Spurs. Holt Texas is one of the largest Caterpillar dealers in the world, according to the San Antonio-based company's Web site. Holt is the great-grandson of Benjamin Holt, who in 1904 developed the first successful track-type tractor, which he named "Caterpillar," according to the company.

"We are pleased at the message it sends to industry about the need to put safety first," Lanier told Law 360. Before the trial began, the plaintiff had offered to settle for $6.5 million, according to Lanier, who said he was "kind of pumped when maybe 15 minutes or so into deliberations the jury sent out a note asking for a calculator." The jury's award is slightly more than what the plaintiff had originally sought, Lanier told Law 360.