A Columbus jury has awarded $20 million to the daughter of a Harris County man slain by his sister’s longtime partner during a fight over cows trampling dove fields.
The jury Thursday found Michael Neely negligent in shooting George Hale “Bick” Bickerstaff III in the head outside Bickerstaff’s Harris County home, where Bickerstaff had fired a rifle toward his sister Elizabeth Ann “Beth” Bickerstaff.
Jurors settled on this amount to compensate Bick Bickerstaff’s daughter Christina Necole Vazquez-Klecha: $20,765,016.
“We are so happy to have had the opportunity to tell Bick’s story and for the jury who were very attentive throughout the trial,” said Vazquez-Klecha’s lead attorney, Teresa Tomlinson of the firm Hall Booth.
The jury found Bick Bickerstaff shared no blame for the shooting.
The lawsuit filed in 2020 had claimed Neely and Beth Bickerstaff acted negligently in causing Bick Bickerstaff’s death, but U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land dismissed claims against the sister in 2021, finding no evidence she anticipated her brother’s death. That left Neely the sole defendant.