Latest News
Thad Spalding is interviewed on Fox 4 News Dallas
On November 21, 2024, DP&S attorney Thad D. Spalding was interviewed by Fox News regarding a recent $98.6M verdict in the Botham Jean v. Amber Guyger civil rights case. Mr. Spalding’s interview focused on why the City of Dallas was not a defendant in the case and the difficulty in holding municipalities liable when constitutional violations are committed by their officers. You can listen to the interview here: Fox 4 News Dallas Interview.
Thad Spalding and Intern, Claire Moulton, published in this month’s Headnotes!
Congratulations to Dallas partner, Thad Spalding, along with DP&S summer intern and second-year law student at the University of Oklahoma, Claire Moulton, on getting their co-written article published in this month’s Headnotes, a publication put out by the Dallas Bar Association. The article, titled “DIY Clerk’s Records – How Could this Possibly Work?” explores the new rule allowing appellants to file their own clerk’s records. Headnotes publishes articles on timely legal issues, membership news, and upcoming Continuing Legal Education programs. You can read the October edition of Headnotes, including Claire and Thad’s article featured on page 8, here.
Congratulations to our 2024 Texas Super Lawyers!
Five of our talented attorneys have been selected to the prestigious 2024 Texas Super Lawyers list, an accolade reserved for the top 5% of lawyers in the state. Congratulations to Kirk Pittard, Thad Spalding, Leighton Durham, Rick Thompson, and Lara Hollingsworth for this much-deserved honor! Dallas partner, Kirk Pittard, was also included in the Top 100 for Dallas/Fort Worth!
Thad Spalding wins UM/UIM appeal in the Dallas Court of Appeals!
Congratulations to Thad Spalding who, along with trial counsel Charlie Reed and Tom Herald, successfully defended Allstate’s appeal of a judgment against them, including attorney’s fees, in a UM/UIM case. Allstate challenged virtually everything that the trial court did, including the award of past medical expenses, prejudgment interest, and declaratory judgment act attorney’s fees.
DP&S is in the Top Verdicts in Texas List for 2023!
A $21.6M Civil Rights verdict that DP&S attorneys Thad Spalding and Shelby White assisted in winning for client Odell Edwards in 2023 was recently recognized as the Number 1 Verdict in Texas in the category of Excessive Force, Police Brutality, Police Misconduct, and Law Enforcement Misconduct. This case also placed number 21 in the Top 50 Jury Verdicts and 37 in Top 50 Wrongful Death Verdicts in Texas overall for that year. Congratulations to all the hardworking attorneys involved in this case! You can see the Top Verdicts list here and can read more about the details of the case here.
DP&S helps secure $1.9M settlement in civil rights case!
Congratulations to Shelby White, Thad Spalding, and trial counsel, Daryl Washington, who settled a civil rights case against the City of Arlington and one of its officers for $1.9 million. The case involved the fatal shooting of Tavis Crane by Arlington police officer Craig Roper after Crane was stopped when his toddler threw a candy wrapper out of the car window. The trial court granted summary judgment to Officer Roper on the basis of qualified immunity. On appeal, the Fifth Circuit reversed that judgment, finding fact issues that needed to be decided by a jury as to whether Roper acted used reasonable force, considering–among many other facts–the speed with which Roper resorted to using deadly force.
DP&S helps win $21.6M Civil Rights verdict!
Congratulations to Daryl Washington and Greg Marks who, with help from DP&S’s Shelby White and Thad Spalding, won a $21.6 million jury verdict for their client, Odell Edwards, in a civil rights case involving the use of excessive, deadly force. The plaintiff’s 15-year-old son, Jordan, was shot and killed by a Balch Springs police officer, Roy Oliver, as the car Jordan was riding in was leaving a house party. The police officer was criminally convicted of murder in 2018, but continued to claim that his shooting was justified. On April 3, 2023, the civil jury disagreed, finding Oliver liable for using excessive, deadly force, and awarding $10.6 million in actual damages to Mr. Edwards and to Jordan’s estate, and an additional $11 million in punitive damages for the officer’s wrongful conduct.
Congratulations to our 2022 Texas Super Lawyers!
Congratulations to DP&S Dallas partners Leighton Durham, Kirk Pittard, Thad Spalding, and Rick Thompson who were, once again, named “Super Lawyers” in the Appellate category by by Super Lawyers Magazine, a Thomson Reuters publication, for 2022.
Thad Spalding wins civil rights appeal in the Fifth Circuit!
Congratulations to DP&S partner, Thad Spalding, who successfully defeated a police officer’s qualified immunity appeal to the Fifth Circuit. The case involves the fatal shooting of a teenager, Jordan Edwards, by Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver. Oliver moved for summary judgment, claiming his shooting–into a car full of teenagers who were leaving a party and driving away–was justified based on his belief that the vehicle was an immediate threat to his partner, Officer Gross. Officer Gross, however, testified that the vehicle was not a threat to him and the officers’ body cam video shows the vehicle passing and driving away from the officers at the time Oliver opened fire into the vehicle. The district court denied Oliver’s motion for summary judgment and Oliver appealed that ruling. The Fifth Circuit rejected Oliver’s appeal, allowing the claims against Oliver to proceed to trial.
DP&S named to “Best Lawyers” 2022 “Best Law Firms” List!
DP&S is proud to announce that it has been named to the “Best Lawyers” 2022 “Best Law Firms” list as a “Tier 1” firm–the highest ranking available–in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in Appellate Practice! According to U.S. News–Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms,” “[a]chieving a tiered ranking . . . signals a unique combination of quality law practice and breadth of legal expertise. Ranked firms, presented in three tiers, are recognized on a national and regional-based scale. Firms that received a tier designation reflect the highest level of respect a firm can earn among other leading lawyers and clients from the same communities and practice areas.”
Congratulations to our 2021 Texas “Super Lawyers”!
DP&S is proud to announce that Kirk Pittard, Leighton Durham, Rick Thompson, and Thad Spalding have all been named “Super Lawyers” in the Appellate category by by Super Lawyers Magazine, a Thomson Reuters publication, for 2021.
Thad Spalding wins in the El Paso Court of Appeals!
Congratulations to Thad Spalding and trial counsel Jon Hanna, Robert White, and Greta Braker, who successfully convinced the El Paso Court of Appeals that summary judgment based on the Workers’ Compensation Act’s exclusive remedy provision was not proper because of fact issues as to whether killed and injured passengers’ travel from a drilling site to a bunkhouse originated in or related to Amerimex’s business. Amerimex, who previously argued that its driver who caused the crash was not in the course and scope of his employment with them, claimed that the passengers—also Amerimex employees—were in the course and scope of their employment with the company. The El Paso Court of Appeals determined that even if the driver may have been in the course and scope of his employment, that did not mean the passengers were too, given that the passengers were not paid for their travel time to the bunkhouse, were not even required to stay in the bunkhouse, and were not on the clock after they left the drill site.
Back-to-Back Arguments in the Texas Supreme Court!
DP&S was in the Texas Supreme Court twice this week! Thad Spalding, along with co-counsel, Tex Quesada, argued Tuesday on behalf of an injured worker in a case dealing with a general contractor’s right of control over a worksite. The next day, Kirk Pittard argued a case addressing medical record affidavits and the standards applicable to counter-affidavits under a Texas statute.
Congratulations to our 2020 Texas and New Mexico “Super Lawyers”!
DP&S is pleased to announce that partners Kirk Pittard, Leighton Durham, Thad Spalding, Caren Friedman and Rick Thompson have been named “Super Lawyers” in the Appellate category by Super Lawyers Magazine.
Thad Spalding wins derivative immunity case in the Texas Supreme Court!
Congratulations to Thad Spalding who, along with Kevin Parker, Richard LaGarde, and Manfred Sternberg, was successful in convincing the Texas Supreme Court to deny immunity to GTECH, a private contractor hired by the Texas Lottery Commission to design and manufacture instant scratch-off tickets.
Tammy Holt and Thad Spalding win in the Dallas Court of Appeals!
Congratulations to Tammy Holt and Thad Spalding who, along with trial counsel Kenneth Chaiken, successfully reversed a summary judgment in a dispute over the terms and requirements of a Cross Purchase Agreement, and whether that agreement required remaining shareholders in a closely-held corporation to purchase their client, a retiring shareholder’s shares.
Kirk Pittard & Thad Spalding named “Best Lawyers” by D Magazine!
Congratulations to Kirk Pittard and Thad Spalding who have been named “best lawyers” by D Magazine in the Appellate category for 2020.