$230 Million Federal Judgment Over Sutherland Springs Church Shooting
After trial: The Justice Department settled the Sutherland Springs cases for $144.5 million in 2023.
Won by National Trial Law (trial counsel), The Ammons Law Firm LLP (trial counsel), Thomas J. Henry (co-counsel) and 3 other firms.
In February 2022, a federal judge ordered the United States to pay $230 million to survivors and families of the 2017 Sutherland Springs church shooting after finding the Air Force 60 percent liable for failing to report the gunman's criminal history to the federal background check system.
What happened
On November 5, 2017, Devin Patrick Kelley walked into First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and opened fire. He killed 26 people and wounded 22 more in what remains the deadliest mass shooting in Texas history. Kelley had a prior domestic assault conviction from his time in the Air Force. Under federal law, that conviction should have barred him from buying firearms. The Air Force never reported it.
Federal regulations required the Air Force to submit Kelley's conviction records to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). A 2014 Inspector General report had already found that 'Air Force Security Forces failed to submit fingerprint cards and final disposition reports in 60 percent of cases.' Despite that internal warning, the reporting failure continued. Kelley walked into a licensed dealer, passed a background check, and bought the rifle he used at the church.
More than 80 survivors and family members of victims filed suit against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Jamal Alsaffar and Tom Jacob of what was then Whitehurst, Harkness, Brees, Cheng, Alsaffar, Higginbotham & Jacob, now National Trial Law, tried the case for the plaintiffs, and the press called Alsaffar the families' lead attorney. The court's 2019 opinion also lists April Strahan and Robert Ammons of The Ammons Law Firm, Mark Collmer of the Collmer Law Firm and Daniel Barks of Speiser Krause as plaintiffs' counsel, and Thomas J. Henry's firm also represented victims. The case required two trials: a liability phase and a damages phase before U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez in the Western District of Texas.
On the liability question, Judge Rodriguez found the government had assumed a legal duty by creating NICS reporting regulations, then breached that duty by failing to follow them. He assigned the United States 60 percent of the fault for the attack. In February 2022, after a 185-page damages opinion examining each plaintiff's losses individually, he entered judgment for more than $230 million. Individual awards ranged from $3,000 for property damage to over $18 million for catastrophic physical and psychological injuries.
The Justice Department appealed. In April 2023, after more than five years of litigation, the government agreed to settle all claims for $144.5 million and dropped its appeal. That figure exceeded the $127 million paid to Parkland survivors and the $88 million paid to Charleston church shooting families. Alsaffar noted the case also spurred federal legislation requiring the military to fix its criminal-record reporting system. The damages judgment, at $230 million, was at the time the largest FTCA verdict in U.S. history.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Holcombe v. United States, 388 F. Supp. 3d 777 (W.D. Tex. May 23, 2019): counsel of record for plaintiffs
- 2.Texas Tribune: Sutherland Springs victims reach $144.5 million settlement with Air Force (Apr. 5, 2023)·Archived copy
- 3.Texas Public Radio: After more than 5 years, families of Sutherland Springs shooting victims may have a resolution (Apr. 5, 2023)·Archived copy
- 4.Holcombe v. United States, 584 F. Supp. 3d 225 (W.D. Tex. 2022) (damages opinion), via vLex·Archived copy
- 5.Duke Center for Firearms Law (February 2022)·Archived copy
- 6.Texas Tribune: Air Force must pay $230 million in Sutherland Springs shooting lawsuit (Feb. 7, 2022)·Archived copy
- 7.Air Force Times: Air Force ordered to pay more than $230M in Texas church shooting (Feb. 7, 2022)
- 8.CBS News: Sutherland Springs mass shooting victims reach tentative $144.5 million settlement with DOJ (April 2023)·Archived copy
- 9.Law360: Feds' $144.5M deal over Texas church shooting approved (May 2, 2023)
- 10.Texas Tribune: Sutherland Springs victims reach $144.5 million settlement with Air Force (April 5, 2023)·Archived copy
- 11.Law360 case page: Holcombe et al. v. United States, No. 5:18-cv-00555 (W.D. Tex.)
- 12.Southeast Texas Record: Federal judge issues $230 million verdict against U.S. for Sutherland Springs shooting·Archived copy
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