Robert C. Hilliard is an American lawyer notable for representing plaintiffs in several cases involving motor vehicle defects including the General Motors ignition switch recalls.
Video Robert C. Hilliard (attorney)
Early life
Hilliard grew up in Newton, Texas.
He attended St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, where he enrolled on a tennis scholarship, graduating summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English in 1980. While at St. Edwards, Hilliard was a four-year letterman in tennis and St. Edward's Athlete of the Year for 1979-1980. In 1989, Hilliard was inducted into the St. Edward's Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2016, he was given St. Edward's Distinguished Alumni Award. He went on to attend St. Mary's University School of Law, in San Antonio, Texas, graduating with honors in 1983.
Maps Robert C. Hilliard (attorney)
Career
In 1986, Hilliard founded the law firm of Hilliard Muñoz Gonzales, LLP, in Corpus Christi, Texas. The firm became Hilliard Martinez Gonzales L.L.P. in 2017 when founding partner Jacobo Munoz retired and John Martinez was made managing partner.
In 2009, Hilliard filed suit against the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services for their responsibility in the so-called "fight club" incidents in the Corpus Christi State School. Cell phone videos had been discovered which depicted State School employees forcing mentally-disabled residents to fight each other.
In 2012, Hilliard co-founded Hilliard & Shadowen, LLP, in Austin, Texas, a law firm that engages in antitrust and civil rights litigation.
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.
Motor vehicle lawsuits
In 2010, Hilliard represented Koua Fong Lee, a Hmong immigrant, who was wrongfully convicted of vehicular homicide after he was involved in an accident. His Toyota Camry, now recalled, had experienced sudden unintended acceleration and causing the death or injury of five people in June 2006. Koua, after serving 2.5 years of an 8-year sentence, was released after the end of a week-long hearing. For his work in proving Koua's innocence, Hilliard received the Never Forgotten Award from the Innocence Project of Minnesota (IPMN) in 2010.
On August 15, 2014, Hilliard was appointed, by Federal Judge Jesse Furman of the Southern District of New York, as co-lead counsel in the National General Motors (GM) ignition switch litigation, where he has primary responsibility for all death and injury cases. Hilliard represents 326 clients with liability claims, of which 53 involved a fatality. On May 2, 2014, Hilliard participated in a discussion session with Kenneth Feinberg who represented GM. On June 30, 2014, Feinberg announced a plan to compensate the victims of the defect.
In 2014, Hilliard defended and exonerated a woman previously convicted in the death of her boyfriend in an accident with ties to GM's ignition switch. In August 2015, he successfully overturned the criminal conviction of another woman involved in an ignition switch incident.
In November 2015, Hilliard was also retained by Bexar and Nueces counties in Texas, as part of a team to file environmental enforcement actions against Volkswagen in regard to EPA violations.
Hernández vs. Mesa
Hilliard represents Sergio Hernández, a 15-year-old who died as a result of a 2010 shooting and Guillermo Arevalo Pedraza the victim of a 2012 killing of another Mexican citizen, both by US Border Patrol agents. The cases had sparked a confrontation between former Mexican President Felipe Calderón and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
A federal judge had initially dismissed by the Hernández family's case. However, that decision was overturned by a panel of judges in the Fifth Circuit, allowing that a Mexican national, standing in Mexico, possesses Fourth Amendment constitutional rights that allow him to sue a United States Border Patrol Agent for excessive use of force across the US border. The Fifth Circuit granted rehearing en banc of the panel's decision. Oral arguments were held on Jan. 21, 2015, and the court decided to vacate the panel's decision.
On October 11, 2016, the United States Supreme Court granted Hilliard's petition for a 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. Hilliard presented oral arguments to the Court on behalf of the Hernandez family on February 21, 2017. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Fifth Circuit's decision and remanded the case.
Major League Baseball
Hilliard filed a lawsuit against Major League Baseball urging MLB to expand netting at ballparks. The suit cites numerous injuries at ballparks, but was filed before a September 2017 incident that prompted MLB players to demand netting be increased at stadiums. Of the September 2017 incident, Twins player Brian Dozier stated: "Every stadium needs to have nets. That's it. I don't care about the damn view of a fan or what. It's all about safety. I still have a knot in my stomach. I don't know if you guys saw it, but I hope the kid's OK. We need nets. Or don't put kids down there." Not long after Hilliard filed his class-action suit, all MLB teams had agreed to install extended netting to protect fans from foul balls and bats escaping the player's grip.
Philanthropy
In 2011, Hilliard established St. Edward's University's Brother Emmett Strohmeyer, CSC and Paul J. Weber '80 Memorial Endowed Scholarship in honor of Brother Emmett Strohmeyer, his tennis coach and mentor and Paul J. Weber, his classmate and teammate.
In April 2017, Hilliard Martinez Gonzales donated $6,500 to United Way of the Coastal Bend to fund 1,000 school supply bags for students in the San Diego Independent School District in San Diego, Texas. In this district, the majority of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Hilliard's wife, attorney Catherine Hilliard, grew up in San Diego.
In May 2017, Hilliard and Tobin donated $1 million to Incarnate Word Academy in Corpus Christi, Texas for a new, 14,000-square-foot elementary level Montessori building.
Media Coverage
- Carlyle, Erin (October, 2011). "The Bulldog" [1]
- Taylor, Beth (October, 2017). "Robert Hilliard Cries Foul Against Major League Baseball" [2]
- Taylor, Beth (March, 2018). "Class Action Hastens MLB's Extension of Safety Netting" [3]
References
External links
- Profile at Hilliard Muñoz Gonzales, LLP
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments