Cableco Charter hit with $7B penalty in Texas murder case
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Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR) has been hit with an eye-popping $7B penalty from a Dallas County, Texas, jury in a case involving a robbery/murder committed by a Spectrum field technician.
The 2019 case involved the robbery and murder of an 83-year-old customer by an employee, and the jury has found Charter liable in the case.

The company had already received a penalty of more than $300M in compensatory damages; the much bigger $7B penalty has come in the punishment phase of the trial. The jury found gross negligence by the company in making the award.
The former technician pleaded guilty to the December 2019 murder of 83-year-old Betty Thomas, and Charter was involved via a civil suit. A Dallas jury found Charter 90% responsible for the death.
The victim's family claimed "systemic safety failures," saying that Charter got rid of an employee screening program in place at Time Warner Cable when Charter acquired that cableco.