Dallas, TX
Here's why the city of Dallas wasn't held liable in the Botham Jean shooting
Jury orders Amber Guyger to pay $100M to Botham’s family
The family was only seeking $54.4 million. They say any money they do collect will go to help others, like Botham would have wanted.
DALLAS – A Dallas appellate attorney says he is not surprised at the award handed down in the wrongful death civil trial of former Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger.
It was a record number for a case where a police officer — off duty, but in uniform — killed an innocent man, Botham Jean.
Appellate attorney Thad Spalding says he’s not surprised at Wednesday’s $98.6 million judgment for the Jean family in the wrongful death lawsuit against Guyger.
“I think it’s a very natural reaction to what the facts they were presented with,” he said.
The family was awarded $38.6 million in compensatory damages and $60 million in punitive damages.
“It’s hard to quantify the loss of a loved one,” Spalding said. “And so the way this law works is we put this in the hands of the jurors who get to hear the witnesses, get to hear the family members and decide based on that testimony.”
Family attorney Daryl K. Washington said the city should share in liability with Guyger, but the city filed a motion to be removed from the lawsuit, which was granted.
“The city of Dallas hired Amber Guyger. The city of Dallas was responsible for training Amber Guyger on the night that Botham was killed,” Washington said. “The city of Dallas, the police officers protected Amber Guyger. And yet when you have a situation like this, they kick police officers under the bus, and they run away from the liability.”
A U.S. Supreme Court case decided in 1978 called Monell Liability keeps municipalities, in many instances, from exposure in these kinds of excessive force civil rights violation cases.
“What the U.S. Supreme Court said under the civil rights statute that this case was brought under is that a city is not responsible in that same way for its officers’ conduct,” Spalding said.
So while Guyger was considered acting as a police officer, although off duty when she fatally shot Jean in his own apartment, the city has no financial responsibility for her actions.
Botham Jean’s family, lawyers speak after ruling: FULL
Botham Jean’s parents and lawyers speak after a jury awarded them $98.6 million in the civil wrongful death suit against former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger. Guyger shot and killed Jean in his apartment in 2018. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his murder.
“In any other scenario, if you’re driving a truck for a company, and you crash into somebody, and you’re negligent when you do that, you’re acting within the scope of your employment,” said Spalding. “And so your employer is responsible.”
Spalding has appeared before the Fifth Circuit and Supreme Court in Monell Liability cases. He says in order to win against Monell Liability, you have to prove one thing.
“It essentially requires that incidents like this have happened multiple times in the past, that the city was aware of these incidents having happened, and that they didn’t do anything about it,” he explained. “It’s what’s called ‘deliberate indifference.’”
For Jean’s family and others, it’s a high bar to cross, which is why, more times than not, cities are dismissed from these types of lawsuits.
Paige Bueckers on the Wings season
WNBA star Paige Bueckers joins Sports Seriously to talk about the how her Dallas Wings are performing this season, as well as her partnership with Verizon.
Sports Seriously
HARTFORD, CT — UConn women’s basketball legends Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd returned to the state that made them champions.
Then the pair experienced something they were used to at PeoplesBank Arena — winning — but it took a comeback of epic proportions.
Bueckers and Fudd helped the Dallas Wings defeat the Connecticut Sun, 86-83, on Thursday, July 2, before a near sellout crowd of 14,579. The Wings rallied from a 24-point deficit to stop the Sun’s two-game win streak.
“It was (a) great crowd, it was a great environment,” Bueckers said of the fans, who cheered loudly as the Wings made their comeback. “It felt like a home game in a sense.
“It’s great to play back here in Connecticut. I love it here.”
UConn played half of its home games at the Hartford arena. Bueckers lost just one game and Fudd two over their careers here. They both wore UConn gear for their pregame tunnel fits.
The Wings outscored the Sun 51-40 in the second half. Bueckers had 11 of her team-high 25 points in the fourth quarter. She added seven rebounds and seven assists. Fudd had both her baskets in the frame and finished with four points, four rebounds and five assists.
Bueckers said the adjustments at halftime were pretty simple.
“Making shots, sometimes it’s as simple as that,” Bueckers said. “We were shooting just about 30% at the half and we felt very confident in the shots that we were getting. … Just sticking with what works.
“We got a lot of people step up, take open shots, be aggressive and get to the free-throw line more in the second half.”
Bueckers had two and-ones down the stretch that fueled the comeback.
“The first one … (Leila) Lacan jumped a pass on the inbound, so I was just trying to create something. … I just felt contact and kind of threw it up,” Bueckers said “The second one, my teammates just did a really good job of spacing the floor and just me just trying to be aggressive, hunt for a shot.”
Fittingly, Bueckers scored her first 3-pointer of the game off an assist from Fudd. Several former UConn teammates showed up to cheer on their friends. Fudd shared before the game that Jana El Alfy braided her hair before the game. Allie Ziebell, Ashlynn Shade and Gandy Malou-Mamel were also in the crowd.
“The five years we both had (at UConn), they showed up every single night,” Fudd said of the fans, including her former teammates. “It just was such an incredible experience … they’re part of the reason that it’s the basketball capital of the world.”
The basketball capital has produced many of the best players in the W. Bueckers’ popularity has continued to skyrocket since her time at UConn. In her second season in the WNBA, she was voted an All-Star starter on Thursday. Bueckers was the leader in fan balloting with 1,045,051 votes. Former Huskies Breanna Stewart and Gabby Williams were also voted starters for the All-Star Game, which will take place in Chicago on July 25.
This could be the final game for Bueckers and Fudd in Connecticut. The Sun will be relocated to Houston next season. Bueckers suggested the Wings play an exhibition game at Gampel Pavilion, in Storrs, Connecticut, in the future.
“It’s just like a family, this whole entire state supporting us … loving women’s basketball, loving everything about it,” Bueckers said. “We feel the support across the world, too.
“This will always be a second home.”
Ross Tower, a 1.1 million-square-foot, 45-story tower at 500 North Akard Street, appears to be up for sale.
Matt Murphy, the director of Cushman & Wakefield’s Texas office advisory group, said in a LinkedIn post that the tower is being marketed to investors. Ross Tower has recently undergone a modernization through a $14 million capital improvement program that upgraded the building’s elevator system, improved common areas and replaced the cooling tower, according to the post.
The building is 60 percent occupied, according to Murphy, and features tenants like the Dallas Regional Chamber, CoStar, Munsch Hardt and Grant Thornton, according to the Dallas Morning News. The asking price wasn’t listed by Murphy in the LinkedIn post, and the outlet noted that the Dallas Central Appraisal District pegged the property at upwards of $99 million for tax purposes.
Recent bets on Downtown Dallas properties cite their proximity to Uptown, where the city is seeing a flourishing financial district. A key enticement for prospective buyers looking to bolster the tenant roster, according to the post, is that the in place rents are 15 percent below market.
In the post, Murphy said that the combination of lower rents for class A space, available square footage with companies exiting downtown, and the thriving Uptown Dallas area just a few blocks away, give the tower solid fundamentals for the right buyer.
The tower is currently owned by a partnership that includes Bandera Ventures of Dallas, HPI Real Estate and Second City Real Estate. The joint venture purchased the tower in 2015, and it was renovated in 2018, according to the post.
The tower was named Lincoln Plaza until 2013, and was formerly the headquarters of multinational oilfield products company Halliburton. Ross Tower is the 14th tallest building in the Dallas skyline.
As Uptown’s Y’all Street continues to grow, building owners are beginning to look at cashing in on the influx of new companies as an option. Hillwood Urban is currently exploring a sale of Victory Commons One, who just signed Scotiabank as a new tenant.
— Hunter Cooke
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DALLAS – After Norway won on Tuesday at Dallas Stadium, its star player has one more stop to make before heading out of town.
Erling Haaland and his teammates visited a Western wear store in the West End.
It’s already changing things for the store owner.
Y’all can kiss my Dallas
What we know:
Just hours after the Norway’s star striker helped his team advance in the World Cup, Haaland had one more goal in Texas – becoming a cowboy.
He and several of his teammates visited Wild Bill’s Western Store in Downtown Dallas.
The store’s owners Cody and Julie Newport told FOX 4 they got a heads-up about the special guest and had part of the floor roped off when Haaland walked in.
He ended up buying multiple hats. He traded cleats for cowboy boots and swapped his jersey for a shirt that says, “Y’all can kiss my Dallas.”
What they’re saying:
“Did he know anything about cowboy hats?” FOX 4’s Peyton Yager asked the store’s owners.
“No. He knew nothing,” Cody Newport said. “Actually, he was sitting in this chair. And we had someone fit him for a cowboy hat.”
Wild Bill’s owners said Haaland and his teammates gravitated to some of their beautiful exotics.
Haaland also purchased a buckle with a longhorn for his belt and branded his initials and jersey number onto his purchases.
“He was saying this is literally the only time I have and the only time in Dallas,” Julie Newport recalled. “He had an amazing time, and we gave him that.”
“We exude the Dallas welcome, the southern hospitality. For him to want to come in and hang out is everything,” Cody Newport said.
Big picture view:
Haaland shared photos of his visit to Wild Bill’s on social media, earning millions of views and likes.
That “Y’all can kiss my Dallas” shirt is nearly sold out in the store, with many of Haaland’s fans snagging gear of their own. And online sales are rolling in.
The store expects a new shipment of the shirt on Thursday to replenish the racks.
The owners said that normally their customers are 90% tourists. But after Haaland’s post, they are starting to see customers come in from North Texas.
The Source: FOX 4’s Peyton Yager gathered information for this story by interviewing the owners of Wild Bill’s Western Store in Dallas.
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