thomas-shaw-2

Lessons From a $206M Verdict with Trial Lawyer Thomas Shaw

Wed, 28 Feb 2024 21:12:42 GMT

Settlement Nation

With Courtney Barber

Johnathan Crews Trial:The Verdict: Voir Dire

Wed, 28 Feb 2024 21:09:56 GMT

Without Warning Podcast®

True Crime

Coppell man’s death not suicide, civil jury decides in awarding his family $206M

Thu, 15 Feb 2024 18:46:19 GMT

Article by: Krista M. Torralva, Dallas Morning News

Jonathan Crews’ family said the jury’s verdict and $206 million damage award brings vindication.

Click here to view the original article

From the Dallas Morning News

Jonathan Crews was most likely killed by his former girlfriend, Brenda Kelly , a Dallas County jury decided in a civil trial Friday.

“I feel like my son’s vindicated,” Pam Crews said. “That’s all I wanted.”

Crews’ family turned to Dallas County civil courts in 2016 — two years after a Coppell police investigation failed to conclude whether Crews’ death on Feb. 2, 2014, was a homicide or the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The Dallas County Medical Examiner also could not determine a manner of death.

Kelly, whose maiden name is Lazaro, called 911 about 11:30 p.m. and said Crews, 27, shot himself to prove his love to her. She has never been charged with a crime in connection with his death.

Thomas Shaw, a lawyer for the Crews’ family, asked jurors to award the family more than $129 million. The jury decided on $206 million, the Crews’ lawyers said.

“You get to appraise the diamonds in their life,” Shaw said. “Jonathan’s life was precious to his family, and this lady took it away.”

Pam Crews testified during the three-day trial that she wanted the story of her son’s death to be a true story. The jury’s verdict set the record straight, she said.

“I just wanted the record clear for Jonathan,” she said. “I’m satisfied.”

The six-person jury deliberated about 2 1/2 hours before reaching a unanimous verdict. In civil cases, only five votes of the jurors is needed to decide a verdict.

Kelly, who leaned on her husband’s chest during breaks in the trial, faced forward as the verdict was read. A member of her legal team wrapped her arm around her. Kelly didn’t look toward the Crews family as they embraced and silently cried.

Kelly did not speak to reporters as she left the courtroom. She maintains she didn’t kill Crews, her lawyer Andrew Jee said. They haven’t decided whether they’ll appeal the verdict, he added.

“Well, we’ve heard the jury’s verdict, and Brenda maintains her innocence as she has from the beginning,” Jee said. “It’s important for people to realize the standard of proof and the amount of evidence needed in a civil court is very low. But we respect the decision of the jury.”

Plaintiffs in a civil trial have a much lower burden of proof than prosecutors must reach in a criminal trial. Jurors had to determine there was a chance just more than 50 percent that Kelly killed Crews, or “more likely than not.”

In a criminal case, jurors must find beyond a reasonable doubt to convict.

The Crews’ lawsuit accused Kelly of killing Crews and spinning a story that he shot himself. They pointed to inconsistent statements that friends of Kelly said she told them. One friend said Kelly told him Crews shot himself in his head. Another friend said Kelly told her he shot himself in his chest.

Darrell Robertson, a retired Houston police detective, testified for the Crews family and said Crews would have had to contort his body to inflict the wound on the left side of his chest. Adding to his theory, Crews had seen a doctor two days prior about a strain to his right shoulder. Robertson said “it defies common sense” that Crews would have pushed through the shoulder pain to put the barrel of the gun to where he was shot.

Robertson also pointed to gunshot residue that was found on Kelly’s palms, backs of her hands and sweater. Fewer gunshot residue particles were found on Crews, Robertson said.

But Jee pointed out crime scene investigators only tested the back of Crews’ hands. They didn’t test his palms or the clothing he wore, according to a Coppell police report submitted into evidence.

“It’s a little deceiving to say they found more on her than on him when they didn’t test him,” Jee said.

Jee suggested Kelly got gunshot residue on her when she tried to cover the bullet wound to stop the bleeding.

A neighbor said she heard a gunshot about 30 minutes before Kelly knocked on her door asking for the address of the apartment complex. A 911 operator instructed Kelly to find the address to the apartment complex from a neighbor because she could not tell them where she was. Crews had moved into the apartment shortly before his death.

Shaw, the Crews’ lawyer, suggested she purposely delayed getting help.

Shaw argued Kelly was fiercely jealous of women with whom Crews communicated. She was especially angry with Crews’ good friend, Emily Ramsey, after she witnessed them hug at a dinner two months before his death. Ramsey was dating Crews’ longtime friend, Jacob Ramsey, and Crews brought Kelly to the dinner to meet them.

Text messages between Crews and his sister showed he was considering breaking up with Kelly the night he was shot.

Ramsey received a text message from Crews shortly before 11 p.m. saying, “I want to die.” Ramsey said she believes Kelly sent the message.

“She was saying to Emily, ‘If I can’t have him, you can’t have him,’” Shaw told jurors in closing statements.

Jurors spoke to Shaw and John Crews afterward. They said they hoped the verdict helped the Crews family “get over the hump.”

“That would be great,” John Crews said.

Fifth Court of Appeals in his Heritage Auctions v. Steil case

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 18:59:50 GMT

The following sound clip is an Oral Argument Tom presented for the Fifth Court of Appeals in his Heritage Auctions v. Steil case

November 16, 2016 - Heritage Auctions v. Steil

Charge of the Court in 'Medina et al v. JIK Arbors of Las Colinas, LLC'

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 18:59:49 GMT

Read the Charge of the Court in 'Medina et al v. JIK Arbors of Las Colinas, LLC' a recent case litigated by Tom

The Utah Court of Appeals in his Kingston v. Daybell case

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 18:59:48 GMT

Listen to an oral argument Tom gave very recently

The following sound clip is an Oral Argument Tom presented for the Utah Court of Appeals in his Kingston v. Daybell case.

Suit faults Carrollton in accident

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 18:59:47 GMT

City denies responsibility in child’s near-drowning

By: Brooks Egerton – Staff Writer of the Dallas Morning News - Thursday February 6, 1997

A city of Carrolton inspector failed to detect a faulty swimming pool drain that later trapped and nearly drowned a 10-year-old boy, a lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges. City Attorney Karen Brophy vowed to “vigorously defend” Carrollton against the suit involving the pool at Sandy Lake Amusement Park. It is one of a growing number of claims filed nationwide on behalf of people who have been maimed or killed by the powerful suction of spa and pool drains. Ms. Brophy said the city checks pools for chlorine levels and cleanliness but doesn’t inspect drains. An inspection form, however, suggests that inspectors check “scum gutters, skimmers, drains” and “circulation, inlets, outlets.” “We don’t put on the scuba gear and go down to look,” Ms. Brophy said.

The case stems from an accident last spring at Sandy Lake, which has one of the Dallas area’s largest pools open to the public. Because the park is privately operated, Carrollton can’t be responsible for what happens there, Ms. Brophy said. Representatives of Sandy Lake and the maintenance company it hired, Pool Kare, did not return phone calls Wednesday. Plantiffs’ lawyer Tom Shaw said he named the city as lone defendant because it’s ultimately responsible for whether pools get a permit to operate. “If you and I go to a pool inspected by the city, we think it’s safe,” he said. “It appears to me that the city of Carrollton uses inspections as a façade” to collect permit fees. “You’ve got to have lifeguards who’ll go into the pool and check these things.”

Sandy Lake passed inspection the day before the accident, according to city documents Mr. Shaw obtained through open-records demands. The inspector, a college student on summer break, specifically indicated that the pool’s drains and inlets had passed, the records show. Uncorrected safety violations are “grounds for suspension of permit and may result in a fine not to exceed $2,000 per violation,” the inspection form states. The former inspector, Scott Giffen, declined to comment when reached Wednesday night at college in Illinois. Mr. Shaw’s client, Coppell resident Sean Chittenden, was playing along a wall in the pool’s deep end May 29 when his right arm was sucked into an uncovered intake pipe. After he spent an undetermined period of time underwater, rescuers broke the unconscious boy’s arm and freed him. They revived him at pool side with cardiopulmonary resuscitation, city records show. Sean, now 11, still suffers from arm pain and emotional trauma, his mother says.

“He’s real different than he was before the accident,” said Carolyn Chittenden. “He gets mad easily” and isn’t doing as well in school. “I grew up going to Sandy Lake, and I never would have dreamed that something like that could happen,” she said. Carrollton adopted pool-safety ordinances in 1993, two years after another near-drowning in the city. In that case, an 8-yaer-old boy was pinned to the uncovered drain of an apartment complex spa for several minutes and suffered permanent brain damage. Rodney Massey, now 14, won more than $500,000 in an out-of-court settlement with the complex, its management company and the manufacturer of the drain cover. Several dozen such accidents have been recorded nationwide in the last 20 years, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Those records are incomplete because accident reporting isn’t mandatory, safety experts say. The federal commission is developing new standards aimed at preventing future tragedies, which occur when a body part or hair seals the drain opening.

A document from the safety panel’s staff says that maintenance professionals often find “missing covers, covers in place but not secured by screws, or covers with corrosion susceptible screws.” The Chittenden suit, filed in state District Court in Dallas County, seeks compensation for Sean’s medical expenses and mental anguish. No damage amount is specified. “We are not suing for millions,” Mr. Shaw said. The city pool inspector wrote the Chittenden family a few days after the accident, saying in part: “Steps have been made to further secure the safety of Sandy Lake Park pool. We are deeply sorry this incident occurred, and hope that we will do all we can to prevent this from happening again.” The attorney questioned whether Mr. Giffen could possibly have done a thorough job, given its size. On a “recognition form” written at the end of the 1996 swimming season, his supervisor praised him for increasing inspections “by 40 percent over last year (363 vs. 259), with an 80 percent increase in follow-up inspections.” The form said the young man “provided a professional and courteous service to our citizens, consistent with our goals or protecting the public health and safety.”

Boy, 11, to get $393,000 in suit over mishap at Sandy Lake pool

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 18:59:46 GMT

Carrollton among those to pay in drain accident

By: Brooks Egerton – Staff Writer of the Dallas Morning News - Tuesday September 23, 1997

A Coppell boy will receive nearly $400,000 for injuries suffered when his arm was sucked into an uncovered swimming pool drain at Sandy Lake Amusement Park in Carrollton. The city of Carrollton, which cleared the privately operated pool to operate a day before the near-drowning in May 1996, will pay an undisclosed part of the lawsuit settlement. Parties to the confidential agreement are barred from discussing it, but court documents confirm the deal’s existence and provide a few details. City Attorney Karen Brophy had vowed to “vigorously defend” Carrollton against the suit, filed by the family of 11-year-old Sean Chittenden. He was trapped underwater when his right arm got caught in an uncovered intake pipe.

The city, Ms. Brophy said in a February interview, could not be held responsible for what happened on private property. A city inspector indicated on a checklist that the Sandy Lake pool’s drains had been checked. However, Ms. Brophy and other city officails acknowledged that inspectors didn’t get in the water and examine drain covers at any of the hundreds of pools granted permission to operate that year. That policy of not checking covers remains in force, a city official said Monday. “I’ve had no directive to change any policies” since the suit was settled, said Scott Hudson, who oversees pool inspections. He referred further questions to Assistant City Attorney Clayton Hutchins, who did not return a phone message. Sandy Lake and a maintenance contractor also will make payments to Sean, court documents show. The boy was saved after rescuers broke his arm to free him, then administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

At a hearing in May 1997, state District Judge Candace Tyson ordered the million-gallon pool closed until an independent inspector examined it. The pool reopened a few days later after some repairs were made and officials promised more would be done in the off-season. Tom Self, part-owner of Sandy Lake and the pool’s manager, didn’t return a phone message Monday. After the May hearing, he said that the lesson of the accident was to “try harder. We do the best we can.” Several dozen people, most of them children, have been maimed or killed by uncovered pool and spa drains in the last 20 years, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Records are incomplete because accident reporting isn’t required. The commission has been studying the problem for several months and plans to issue new safety guidelines as early as next week, spokesman Ken Giles said.

Commission staffers have been studying the effectiveness of multiple drains, which could prevent a deadly buildup of suction if a cover is missing and hair or a body part seals the opening. “Automatic shutoff switches that detect an increase in suction … probably are an effective backup provision,” a staff draft document says. Recently filed court documents say that Sean will receive $393,000, nearly half of which will go into a trust fund that matures on his 25th birthday. Payments are to cover medical bills, counseling for emotional trauma, schooling and other matters.

The total settlement amount was $812,000, which includes payments to lawyers for the plaintiffs and accident witnesses. The boy’s attorney declined to comment and asked that their client’s family not be contacted. John T. Thompson, an expert in municipal law, said that local governments are increasingly being held responsible for employees’ negligence. “We teach our managers, ‘You’d better watch out,’ ” said Dr. Thompson, a retired public administration professor at the University of North Texas and former municipal attorney. “Obviously, they [Carrollton employees] weren’t looking for things” at Sandy Lake, he said. “They didn’t expect it to happen.”

Pool inspections won’t be altered

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 18:59:44 GMT

Carrollton official testifies in suit over drain accident

By: Brooks Egerton – Staff Writer of the Dallas Morning News - Thursday April 24, 1997

Carrollton officials say they won’t begin inspecting swimming pools more closely despite national news reports about the deadly dangers of missing drain covers, two near-drownings locally and a lawsuit. City documents indicate that the drains are checked and must be working properly for pools to operate legally. Yet environmental health director Antonio Romo said in a recent sworn deposition that “we have no methodology of proving that the drain cover is properly secured.” Couldn’t inspectors simply “get into the swimming pool and look to see if it’s covered?” asked attorney Tom Shaw, who represents one of the near-drowning victims in a lawsuit against the city. “We don’t allow them to get into the swimming pools,” Mr. Romo responded, according to a transcript of his testimony. He was not asked why at the time and did not volunteer to explain. Asked to elaborate Wednesday, he wouldn’t comment and referred all questions to legal counsel. City Attorney Karen Brophy likewise declined to comment, saying she didn’t want to go beyond the scope of the deposition.

A check of other cities shows that Carrollton is not alone in taking a hands-off approach to the dangers of uncovered drains, whose powerful suction can trap a person if part of his or her body covers the opening. Some towns, such as Duncanville, don’t conduct annual inspections of pool facilities. Among those that do, “it’s not common practice to get in the pools,” said Grand Prairie environmental health manager Ken Williams. “It’s usually done by professional staff who don’t have time to get into a swimming suit,” he said. Instead, inspectors try to perform a visual check from the edge of the pool. A Dallas official agreed, suggesting that taxpayers wouldn’t want to fun longer, tougher inspections. Like Grand Prairie, Carrollton inspects public and “semi-public” pools – ranging from the giant one at Sandy Lake Amusement Park, where Mr. Shaw’s client was injured last year, to smaller ones at apartment complexes. It charges $100 for an operating permit and can fine operators up to $2,000 a day for not fixing safety violations.

A college student hired by Carrollton to work during his summer break inspected Sandy Lake on May 28 and declared it fit to open. The next day, a 10-year-old Coppell resident named Sean Chittenden got stuck in an uncovered intake pipe along a pool wall. The boy had quit breathing by the time rescuers broke his arm and freed him. He was revived at poolside but remains traumatized by the accident, his mother says. Carrollton has vowed to fight the lawsuit. Ms. Brophy said the city can’t be held responsible for what happens at a private business. “There’s no settlement talk,” she said Wednesday. Mr. Shaw argues that the city is liable because it’s ultimately responsible for whether a pool can operate. If a city is going to inspect pools and certify them as safe, he said, “You’re obligated to do it right.” Sandy Lake and the maintenance company it hired, Pool Kare, are not named in the suit and have not spoken publicly about it. Several dozen accidents similar to Sean’s have been reported to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in the last 20 years. Experts say the numbers are far from complete because reporting isn’t required. Most victims have been children, many of whom have drowned in spas and wading pools – places where they have the easiest access to uncovered drains. Others have suffered permanent injuries ranging from brain damage to disembowelment.

Carrollton started inspecting pools in 1993, two years after an 8-year-old boy visiting an apartment complex was trapped in a spa drain. Rodney Massey suffered brain damage and was awarded more than $500,000 in an out-of-court settlement that didn’t involve the city. Grand Prairie’s Mr. Williams said his inspectors have been trained over the years by officials from Dallas, Plano and other cities. Drain accidents like those in Carrollton are “always mentioned,” he said. Carrollton’s Mr. Romo testified that his inspectors get no formal training. Asked by Mr. Shaw if they should receive some, he said no. “Do you intent to take any other precautions to assure the citizens of the city of Carrollton that safety hazards don’t exist at Sandy Lake swimming pool?” the attorney asked in the deposition. “No,” Mr. Romo said.

Larry North seeks to end contract with investors

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 18:59:44 GMT

Fitness expert’s lawsuit describes agreement as ‘indentured servitude’

By: Lisa M. Whitley – Staff Writer - September 17-23, 1999

Park Cities – Health and fitness guru Larry North wants to terminate his contract granting 25% of his earning over a 50-year time period to financial wizard Andrew Tobias, author Jim Halperin and local businessman Steve Ivy. Halperin and Ivy own Dallas-based Heritage Capital Corp. – one of the world’s largest coin wholesalers. After years of unsuccessful negotiations with Halperin and the others to “fairly” terminate the contract, North said he finally filed suit against the trio in a Dallas County court earlier this summer under his company name, North Bodies Inc. That suit seeks an initial $250,000, plus attorney’s fees and damages under Texas usury laws, which carry stiff penalties if it is determined that excessive interest rates were charged.

According to the suit, North met Halperin and Ivy in 1990 when they became members of his Highland Park North Bodies gym. At the time, North was in considerable financial trouble – behind on tax payments and his payroll. In late 1991, North said, he shared his financial concerns with Halperin, who offered to make North a loan. “I was so desperate, I was willing to go to his office right then and sign the agreement,” North said. “I didn’t even have the money to get my own attorney.” The problem, North said, was that the contract kept becoming more demanding as his desperation increased. “As I became more desperate, the noose tightened,” he said. That resulted in North selling Halperin, Ivy and Tobias 25% ownership in all of his health and fitness ventures for 50 years for $100,000, he said.

In return, North was granted a salary of $50,000 per year with an allowance for raises based on the consumer price index, a revolving credit agreement in the amount of $125,000 (of which only $25,000 was ever borrowed, according to North) and 75% of any profits. North would have to live to be 82 years old in order to fulfill the terms of this contract, he said. “Taking 25% of someone’s income for the rest of their life is troubling under any circumstances,” said Alan Trust of Trust Becker Law Firm P.C., who is representing North. His lawsuit claims the contract was a form of “indentured servitude,” a claim that North supports. “This was about controlling another human being,” he said. Ivy, Heritage’s president, contends it was a fair deal. “If he never made any money, we were toast,” he said. “North did become profitable but the investment went south. We weren’t investing in a single gym. The gym itself was losing money. … We were investing in Larry North’s fitness and entertainment ventures. When you say 50 years, people think that’s a long time, but when you buy stock, it doesn’t have an expiration date.”

Ivy asserts that North excluded him and his partners from investment opportunities like North’s successful infomercials. North denies the allegations and said he has offered several settlement options to sever his contract. “No one has ever told these people to just go away,” he said. “I have made every fair attempt to come up with a solution.” Settlement offers don’t fulfill contracts, said Tom Shaw, Halperin and company’s attorney in this case. “When you’re handed a contract, the law presumes you read it and understood it,” he said. That’s not necessarily true said Alan Trust, North’s attorney. “Just because a document is signed doesn’t mean the law will or should enforce it,” he said. Shaw, however, says the contract with his client is valid. “The bottom line is North was happy to take their money when he didn’t have any of his own,” Shaw said. “Now, he doesn’t want to honor it when he’s making money. He’s not a (naïve) little old lady in tennis shoes who didn’t know what he was getting into.”

But, North says he’s always been gullible. “I’ve been naïve and too (trusting) my whole life,” he said. “Hopefully, as a result of these bumps and bruises, I’m becoming a bit more caution. I still like partners; I’m just being a little choosier about who I pick.” The owners of Heritage are also embroiled in another lawsuit that claims unfair contractual obligations. That suit was filed in U.S. District Court in 1997 by Louisiana-based Blanchard and Co. Inc. “There’s an irony involved in the similarities between these two lawsuits,” Ivy said. “Both relationships went well until they didn’t need us anymore. … We’re big boys when we have an investment loss but, at the same time, when you have a success, you want to collect. People would stop taking risks if every time you were successful the other party could hire a bunch of attorneys and get out of their obligations.” Currently, both North and Blanchard’s contracts are under confidential binding arbitration proceedings. Blanchard’s arbitration is expected to conclude by the end of the year. The North Bodies lawsuit has been put on hold pending the conclusion of arbitration proceedings on Nov. 5. At that time the lawsuit is expected to be heard in judge Robert Jenevein’s Dallas County courtroom.

Judge closes pool pending results of safety inspection

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 18:59:43 GMT

Judge orders shutdown of pool in Carrollton

By: Brooks Egerton – Staff Writer of the Dallas Morning News - Saturday May 24, 1997

A Dallas County judge shut down one of North Texas’ largest pools Friday, saying she had serious concerns about whether it was safe for swimmers to use. State District Judge Candace Tyson barred Sandy Lake Amusement Park’s million-gallon pool from operating until an independent inspection assures her that underwater hazards have been removed. Problems associated with the near-drowning of a Coppell boy last Memorial Day weekend have been fixed, park lawyers insisted in court. They showed that judge pictures of a drainage pipe that they said had been properly covered since Sean Chittenden’s accident. “They still look bad,” the frowning judge said of the photographs. “I’m concerned about letting you open.” After a state Department of Health inspector examines the pool Saturday morning, Judge Tyson said she would confer with lawyers in the Chittenden case by phone. She would then consider lifting her temporary restraining order, allowing the pool to reopen.

Judge Tyson issued the order at the urging of lawyer Tom Shaw, who represents the Chittenden family. Their lawsuit initially targeted only the city of Carrollton, which pronounced the pool fit to open a day before the near-drowning, but the lawsuit was expanded Friday to include Sandy Lake and the maintenance company it hired. Mr. Shaw said the pool still holds dangers, including what he called a jungle of exposed underwater pipes and child-sized openings between the kiddie-pool section and the main pool’s deep end. He argued and the judge agreed, that the Carrollton employee who approved Sandy Lake for operation this year wasn’t qualified to inspect such a large pool. In a deposition last month, Mr. Shaw asked the inspector, Carl Shooter, if he knew “any of the safety standards that are associated with a million-gallon pool.” “No, sir,” was the reply.

Before the hearing started Friday, Sandy Lake attorney Peter Martin wrote Mr. Shaw a letter threatening to sue if an injunction prevented the pool from operating. “Our damages may be thousands of dollars per day,” he wrote. The judge apparently alluded to the threat in issuing her order, saying that “the court’s concern is for the health and safety” of the pool’s patrons, “not for the profit that would be lost.” After the hearing, Mr. Martin said he wouldn’t push ahead immediately with such a suit or an appeal of Judge Tyson’s order. First, he said, he wanted to see what happened with the emergency inspection Saturday morning.

Mr. Martin reiterated his belief in the pool’s safety, while acknowledging that his client had offered a $25,000 settlement to the Chittendens. “There are no entrapment hazards in that swimming pool,” he said. “We’ve tried to update the pool and are convinced of its safety.” Tom Self, part-owner of Sandy Lake and the pool’s manager, said that the lesson of the accident was to “try harder. We do the best we can. We want their safety.” Carrollton has made no settlement offer and plans to continue fighting the suit, its lawyers say. Their position is that the city can’t be held liable for an accident on private property.

Pool gets safety inspection; another scheduled today

Dallas Morning News - Sunday May 25, 1997

Carrollton – Health and safety officials who inspected Sandy Lake Amusement Park’s swimming pool Saturday found several items that must be corrected before a Dallas County judge will consider reopening it. The pool’s owners and their attorneys, confident that the problems could be fixed by Sunday, persuaded a Dallas inspector to return for another look Sunday morning.

Sandy Lake pool closed Sunday, may reopen today

Dallas Morning News - Monday May 26, 1997

Carrollton – The pool at Sandy Lake Amusement Park remain closed Sunday after inspectors asked for more repairs. A judge closed the pool Friday because of safety concerns. The park’s owners expressed confidence the repairs would satisfy an inspector and that the pool would be allowed to open at 10 a.m. Monday.

A Beetle battle

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 18:59:42 GMT

By: Michael Whiteley – Staff Writer at the Dallas Business Journal - January 3-9, 2003

Richardson – A former office manager who says she was fired from one of the region’s best-known Volkswagen dealerships because she had heart surgery has won the first round before a federal labor agency and may be entering unusual terrain in Dallas state district court.

Delores J. Edwards, 61, said she was called to the general manager’s office at The Volkswagen Store, now known as Boardwalk Volkswagen, and fired without notice on Jan. 26, 2001 – the same day Boardwalk was signing up employees for a new health plan. Edwards had worked at the dealership at 601 S. Central Expwy. since 2000, the year Boardwalk Transportation L.P. bought it and changed its name from Central Volkswagen.

Citing an office memo on health issues that warned Edwards had been a heart patient, she filed a claim with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The panel ruled on Nov. 22 that Edwards had been wrongly fired because her employers regarded her as disabled. In an unusual move, Edward’s attorney decided to file the case in state rather than federal court. Instead, Thomas E. Shaw, Edward’s attorney, filed suit against the dealership in state court Dec. 2 under a chunk of Texas law that parallels federal job-protection codes. Shaw said he’s more comfortable trying cases in state court.

Boardwalk denies the allegations. Its attorney, Lynn Fielder, questions the venue. “In a nutshell, the EEOC ruling is totally irrelevant in state court,” he said. “Boardwalk came in … and brought all these employees with the former company on board and looked at them for 90 days and said, ‘We’ve got way too many people doing these jobs.’ ”

Sandy Lake pool opens after repairs

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 18:59:41 GMT

Judge ordered weekend closing because of concerns over safety

Donna Logan Wisdom and Linda Stewart Ball – Staff Writers - Tuesday May 27, 1997

Carrollton – After a two-day delay marked by court orders and last-minute repairs, state inspectors allowed the pool at Sandy Lake Amusement Park to open for the season, a year after a Coppell boy nearly drowned there. About 400 swimmers, many unaware of the safety violations but curious about barricaded slides, sought refuge from the 93-degree heat in the million-gallon pool that a Dallas County judge closed Saturday and Sunday. The two slides, in the opposing shallow ends of the large pool, have been closed until they can be removed, pool manager Tom Self said. Mr. Self said Texas Department of Health Inspectors told him to close the slides because they are too steep for the drop into only 3 feet of water.

Although she knew it had been shut down during the weekend, Kristen Adames of Carrollton was at the pool Monday with her husband, two children and other family members. She said that she felt safe swimming there and that her family has visited the pool there three to four time a season for about seven years. “This place has been here for so long,” Ms. Adames said. “I’m really glad they opened it up.” Connie Berry of Lake Dallas said she has brought carloads of kids to the pool for at least 10 years. She said they would continue their tradition. “We stay here from open to close,” Ms. Berry said. “I like the space, and the lifeguards are always attentive.” The attorney for the family of the injured boy said he still has concerns.

“The operative question is, ‘Would I send my child or my client’s child there?’ No, I would not allow them to go to this pool,” said Tom Shaw, attorney for Carolyn Chittenden, whose son Sean, 11, was severely injured last year when his arm became trapped in an underwater pool drain. The boy was under water three to five minutes, Mr. Shaw said, and suffered brain damage. He has undergone two operations to repair his arm and more surgery is needed, Mr. Shaw said. He called Sandy Lake “a shoddy operation. They have technically complied with the requirements, but they do not have a certified pool operator out there,” he said. “What in God’s name took them over a year to do this?” Mr. Shaw said that though Sandy Lake has a safe facility for now, he said he and his client want assurances that it will remain safe through proper operation and regular inspections.

Mr. Self, a co-owner of the park with other family members who live on the property, said he welcomed the inspections. He said he wants guests to know that the pool is safe. “If there’s something wrong, we want someone to tell us,” Mr. Self said. “We can’t operate a facility and not care about the kids.” Family owned and operated for 27 years, the park is filled on most weekdays with large groups of children from day-care facilities and the YMCA, he said. “They were all waiting to get in,” Mr. Self said of the pool’s opening Monday morning. “Most of these people have swam here for years and years.” The Chittenden family filed its first suit in January, naming the city of Carrolton and Antonio Romo, the city’s Environmental Health Department director, as defendants. On Friday, Sandy Lake Amusement Park Inc. was added as a defendant in the lawsuit.

“They seemed more interested in opening the pool than making sure it’s safe,” Mr. Shaw said. He said the delay was simply to allow more time to learn about the operation. He added that park owners were sent a letter 70 days ago requesting that they bring everything up to state and local code. “We’ve been busy trying to show the court that we’ve spent thousands of dollars trying to get this 50-year-old pool into shape,” Sandy Lake attorney Peter Martin said Saturday after the pool failed the first round of inspections by the Texas Department of Health. “The fact is they’re not finding many problems; they’re finding some pretty minor ones in our opinion.” Mr. Self said that three violations cited in Sunday’s inspection included an improper intake pipe and drain cover and the failure to properly monitor chlorine levels. Other state-ordered repairs, including construction of a solid barrier between the shallow ends of the pool and the deeper water between them, will be done at the end of this season, Mr. Self said.