16-Year Old Special-Needs Student Sexually Assaulted Repeatedly on High School Property
Criminal Charges Filed; Victim’s Family Now Wants Answers
(SAN ANGELO, Texas) – Lawyers for the family of a special needs high school student have filed suit against the San Angelo Independent School District, the district’s superintendent and the special education director for not protecting then 16-‐year old Victoria Colomo, who was sexually assaulted multiple times beginning in 2008.
Victoria is legally blind and was born with Cerebral Palsy and Hydrocephalus, a condition also known as “water on the brain.” According to the lawsuit, Victoria was walking to class in 2008 at Central High School, located at 100 Cottonwood in San Angelo, when a male student led her to a secluded area of the school’s campus and sexually assaulted Victoria.
“Victoria’s mother reported the incident to school officials and was promised that measures would be taken to ensure the safety of her daughter. Measures like having someone walk Victoria to class. Unfortunately, the district did not follow through and Victoria was violated again,” said Colomo family attorney Robert Hilliard of Corpus Christi-‐based Hilliard Muñoz Gonzales LLP.
In November of 2010, Victoria reported that she had again been assaulted by the same male student. This time, multiple assaults occurred over a two-‐week period with the last one taking place on November 3, 2010. Criminal charges were pressed by Victoria’s mother and a criminal investigation is ongoing.
The Injustice of Koua Fong Lee's Sentence
Kuoa Fong Lee Freed in Minnesota; Toyota Nightmare Over
More Victims Testify
Koua Fong Lee Could Be Victim of Toyota’s Recall
Read the story from the Minneapolis, St. Paul Star Tribune
On June 10, 2006 Koua Fong Lee was returning from church with his family, when his Toyota Camry hit an Oldsmobile at a St. Paul, Minnesota intersection; killing the driver and his 10-year-old son. Another passenger in the Oldsmobile, a seven-year-old girl, was left quadriplegic and died a year and a half later. Lee served 2 1/2 years of an eight-year sentence for vehicular homicide, but he always maintained that his brakes didn't work. On the afternoon of August 6, 2010, following a four-day hearing, Judge Joanne Smith ruled there was enough evidence to grant a new trial to Lee. She ordered him freed pending trial. The Ramsey County prosecutor's office then announced less than an hour later that it would not be refiling charges against Lee. Click here to read the whole story.
Bob Hilliard Named as Liaison Counsel For Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee Against Toyota
Hilliard Muñoz Gonzales LLP's founding partner, Bob Hilliard, will help lead the charge against Toyota. Mr. Hilliard has been named as liaison counsel to the plaintiff's steering committee against the massive automaker. Read more about the PSC in the below article published in The National Law Journal.
Plaintiffs' Steering Committee Named in Texas MDL Against Toyota
Amanda Bronstad
The National Law Journal
October 20, 2010
A judge has approved a plaintiffs' steering committee that will manage about 20 cases filed in state court in Texas alleging claims of sudden acceleration against Toyota Motor Corp.
Harris County, Texas, District Judge Robert Schaffer in Houston on Friday approved a committee of five lawyers to serve on the plaintiffs' steering committee, including two liaison counsel: Jeffrey Wigington, name partner at Wigington Rumley Dunn in Corpus Christi, and Robert Hilliard, of Hilliard Munoz Gonzales http://www.hmglawfirm.com, in Corpus Christi.
The cases are separate from the more than 200 lawsuits coordinated in multidistrict litigation (MDL) before U.S. District Judge James Selna in Santa Ana, Calif. In that litigation, which involves personal injury and wrongful death claims as well as class actions brought on behalf of consumers for economic damages, three plaintiffs lawyers have been designated as liaison counsel to the state court cases, which are in California, Texas and New York. Those three lawyers are Dawn Barrios, a partner at New Orleans-based Barrios, Kingsdorf & Casteix; Gretchen Nelson, a partner in the Los Angeles office of New York's Kreindler & Kreindler; and Wylie Aitken, founding partner of Aitken Aitken Cohn in Santa Ana.
In September, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Anthony Mohr approved a plaintiffs' steering committee in the state court actions pending in California.
Toyota's lawyer in the state cases in New York, Steven Kramer, a partner in the White Plains, N.Y., office of Pittsburgh's Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, has moved before the state's Litigation Coordinating Panel to combine those cases. The panel has not yet ruled on that motion.
Mentally Handicapped Person Forced To Fight
Armando Hernandez, Jr. was a resident of the Corpus Christi State School from 2007 to 2008. During his stay, Mr. Hernandez, a mentally handicapped person, was forced to engage in bare knuckle fights with other state school residents, and was threatened, beat, and placed in segregation when he would not comply. The state school administration was repeatedly warned by Inez Hernandez, Armando's mother, that horrible things were going on there, and nothing was ever done. The only reason the actual perpetrators were caught was because they recorded the fights on a cell phone camera and the authorities obtained the video.
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7564554
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/26/texas.fight.club.probe/
http://www.caller.com/news/2009/mar/26/corpus-christi-state-school-mother-of-former/
Parents sue complex where toddler drowned
A Houston Complex failed to maintain surrounding fence and pool water visibility. Now facing law suits for negligence and the death of a 2 year old boy.
www.chron.com
Houston Chronicle Author: Matt Stiles Posted: 11/11/08 Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Multiple warnings ignored at complex where child drowned
Unresponsive owners of Houston Complex received multiple warnings that their pool fence and water quality were not meeting specifications. Child drowns hours after City Inspections had been there responding to complaints.
www.chron.com
Houston Chronicle Author: Matt Stiles Posted: 10/28/08 Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Hilliard & Muñoz, L.L.P., Announces Lawsuit in Apartment Drowning of Houston Toddler
Lawsuit and restraining order filed against Houston complex for the death of a toddler and the negligence of pool maintenance on the property.
http://bizyahoo.com
Press Release Source: Hilliard & Muñoz, L.L.P. Posted: 11/11/08
Lawsuit Could Break Guidant Deal
New York Attorney General gets involved with cases against Guidant Corp. and faulty heart devices.
http://www.accessmylibrary.com
The Indianapolis Star via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Posted: 11/04/05
Guidant lax on quality and records, FDA finds
79 page report submitted to the FDA outlining defibrillator issues due to lack of quality manufacturing and assurance.
Download PDF
StarTribune.com Copyright 2005 All Rights Reserved Author: Avram Goldstein, Bloomberg News Posted: 10/28/05
