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makes this his Complaint against Defendants, MIKE MILES, IN HIS OFFICIAL
CAPACITY AS SUPERINTENDENT OF THE DALLAS INDEPENDENT
SCHOOL DISTRICT; TERRY S. SMITH IN HER OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS
EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR
OF
THE
DALLAS
COUNTY
JUVENILE
This Court has jurisdiction over the federal claims of the Plaintiffs in this
action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1331, 1343 because the subject matter of
Plaintiffs claims are premised on violations of 42 USC 1983 and 1988.
2.
3.
Causey, when alive, was a citizen of the State of Texas and was at all
pertinent times within the confines of the Dallas County Juvenile
Department and a resident of Dallas County Youth Village and/or a student
in the Dallas Independent School District.
2
4.
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His mother and natural heir is Tammy Simpson. She too is a citizen of the
State of Texas and brings this Compliant individually and as heir and
representative of the Estate of Troy Causey, Jr.
5.
6.
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any purposes including but not limited to sports recruiting from among its
probationers by personnel of DISD.
7.
8.
Many school districts throughout the United States have engaged in the
practice or recruiting students from outside their territorial districts to play
sports as varied as football, baseball, track, and many others, including but
not limited to basketball.
9.
DISD for many years has likewise had a dismal record of engaging in the
practice of recruitment of students from outside the confines of the DISD to
play sports within DISD schools.
4
10.
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For the purpose of example only, South Oak Cliff High School in DISD
forfeited its 2005 and 2006 basketball titles for having an ineligibly recruited
player.
11.
12.
13.
The stakes for the DISD sports programs could not have been higher.
Coaches and administrators are professionally scrutinized based upon their
successes on the playing fields and the court.
property good not for the content of their character, but for the success
they can produce in athletic endeavors.
14.
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This resulted in a policy and practice where anomalies and clear deviations
on UIL and other rules and regulations were routinely disregarded.
15.
The Dallas County Juvenile Department and Dallas County (jointly, the
Department) operate facilities for juveniles who are part of the juvenile
justice system and monitor probation for youth participants in the juvenile
justice system.
Village, a residential placement facility to which young men are sent by the
juvenile courts in Dallas County for rehabilitation, instruction and training.
The Department also undertakes to train all of its employees and officers,
but has wholly failed to properly train and supervise them.
16.
The Department has written policies that state that participants have
restricted access to the outside world. Youth mail is monitored, visits are
restricted to counsel and family members and phone calls are similarly
restricted. However, it has been the long-time practice, and therefore the
actual policy of the Department, to allow DISD personnel to visit with
otherwise incarcerated youth for the purpose of sports recruiting.
FACTS REGARDING TROY CAUSEY, JR.
17.
In 2013, Causey entered the custody of the Department and was placed at
the Dallas County Youth Village through April of 2013.
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18.
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While there and in the custody of the Department, Causey was visited by
staff members of the DISD, including the head coach of the DISD WilmerHutchins basketball team, John Burley.
19.
20.
21.
Causey was not a resident within DISD, but was a resident of the Richardson
School District and was zoned to Richardson High School.
22.
While within the confines of the Department, Burley and DISD set up a
residence within DISD to which Causey would be released from the custody
of the Department. Before his release from the Department, DISD caused
Causey to be registered to attend Wilmer-Hutchins High School in DISD so
he could play sports there despite his lack of residence.
23.
Upon information and belief, Jonathan Tramaine Turner, also was recruited
by DISD staff members from the Department while in Department custody
to play basketball for another DISD team Madison High School.
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24.
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Both Causey and Turner were placed in the same residence within DISD by
DISD staff members so that they could play basketball at DISD schools.
25.
DISD and the Department were consciously indifferent to the risk and
threats of placing unsupervised non-mature student athletes in homes just so
they would be in DISD and therefore eligible to participate in DISD athletics
programs. However, this had been the pattern and policy of DISD for many
years.
26.
27.
Causeys paperwork at DISD was falsified to allow the transfer and was
made without parental approval. This was the custom and the practice
involved in this illegal policy of DISD recruitment.
28.
29.
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In these matters, DISD and the Department acted in concert and coordinated
action.
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specially assembled with select players who were tough, seasoned and had
the experience of the juvenile incarceration and probation that provides
unfettered access to these willing young athletes, such as Causey.
31.
32.
33.
On March 24, 2014, Turner and Causey got in an argument in the home in
which they had been placed without adequate supervision.
34.
Turner physically accosted Causey such that he was on the ground. Turner
then hit and kicked Causey about the head until his skull was crushed.
Causey suffered severe brain damage from the beating and after
extraordinary attempts to save his life, was declared dead on March 24,
2014.
35.
endemic. For her efforts in trying to bring the matter of the policies and
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Also following on the death of Causey, the DISD top investigator, Jeremy
Libbe, began an investigation into the death of Causey and the DISD
recruiting that had led to the death. Libbes clear conclusion was that it was
the policy of DISD to recruit and to allow improper recruiting and that led
to the death of Causey.
DISD and the Department acted in concert with each other in the
incarceration and intimidation of young athletes to isolate them, recruit them
from their incarceration into DISD athletic programs for which they would
have been ineligible and placing them in homes within the DISD district
area without regard to the known risk caused by having these young and
immature students, with (albeit juvenile) violent backgrounds into
inadequately supervised housing to allow them athletic eligibility.
The
policy and practice includes the rampant and endemic avoidance and
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falsification of UIL rules. The policy and practice involves the contact and
recruitment of Department incarcerated minors. The policy and practice
involves the providing of private and confidential juvenile records to DISD
coaches involved in recruiting. The policy involves placing these student
athletes in homes together without adequate supervision.
The policy
DISD and the Department (alone and in concert) had a special relationship
with Causey because of his custodial care in the Department, because of his
de-facto custodial care in a home set up for him within the DISD district,
because of his de-facto foster care relationship, because of his coordinated
release from the Department into a home set up for him in the DISD and defacto custodial care, because of his release from the Department into a high
school set up for him by the Department and DISD, because of the confines
and restrictions of his juvenile probation, and/or because of his status as a
DISD and Department student and resident.
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39.
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DISD and the Department (alone and in concert) acted with deliberate
indifference for the care and custody of Causey, ultimately causing his
death.
CAUSE OF ACTION
CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATION
[42 U.S.C. 1983, 1988;
th
14 Amendment to the Constitution of the United States]
(Against All Defendants)
40.
41.
By their acts and omissions alleged above, Defendants DISD and the
Department deprived Causey of his rights to life,
liberty and
bodily
In addition and in the alternative, DISD and the Department (solely and in
concert) engaged in a policy and practice as set out herein that resulted in the
death of Causey.
13
43.
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In addition and in the alternative, DISD and the Department (solely and in
concert) engaged in a policy and practice of deliberate indifference to the
care and custody that resulted in the death of Causey.
44.
In addition and in the alternative, DISD and the Department (solely and in
concert) failed to properly train and supervise their staff and employees and
otherwise to cease the recruiting and placement of minor children in homes
and assigned to schools inside the parameters of DISD for eligibility in
sports programs that resulted in the death of Causey.
45.
46.
Plaintiffs contend that the failures to train and supervise staff regarding the
policies, procedures, practices and customs of DISD and/or the Department
(alone or in concert) put Causey in an inherently dangerous situation and
violated his rights under the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of
the United States for which Plaintiffs seek recovery.
47.
During the relevant time period contemplated by this cause of action, DISD
and the Department (alone or in concert) failed to follow state and federal
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laws, UIL rules, federal and state regulations and the standard of care for
treatment of Causey.
48.
During the relevant time period contemplated by this cause of action, DISD
and the Department (alone or in concert) failed to follow their own written
policies and procedures and those of the state of Texas and the UIL and
other authorities on recruitment and care of student athletes and minor-child
probationary residents.
49.
Based upon the operative facts, such acts and omissions rise to the level
of deliberate indifference and conscious indifference constituting a violation
of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States for
which Plaintiffs seek recovery.
50.
Each and every, all and singular of the foregoing acts and omissions, on
the part of Defendants, taken separately and/or collectively, jointly and
severally, constitute a direct and proximate cause of the injuries and
damages set forth herein. As a direct, proximate, and foreseeable result of
Defendants unlawful conduct, Plaintiffs have suffered, and will continue to
suffer damages in an amount to be proved at trial.
51.
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53.
54.
55.
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JURY DEMAND
56.
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Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Charles H. Peckham
_________________________
Charles H. Peckham
TBN: 15704900
FBN: 15770
cpeckham@peckhampllc.com
Mary A. Martin
TBN: 00797280
FBN: 12272
mmartin@peckhampllc.com
PECKHAM, PLLC
Two Bering Park
800 Bering Drive, Suite 220
Houston, Texas 77057
(713) 574-9044
(713) 493-2255 facsimile
SUBJECT TO PRO HAC VICE:
Marwan E. Porter, Esquire
Florida Bar No. 026813
marwan@theporterfirm.com
Crystal D. Potts, Esquire
Florida Bar No. 111709
crystal@theporterfirm.com
THE PORTER LAW FIRM, LLC
5033 SE Federal Highway
Stuart, Florida 34997
(772) 266-4159
Facsimile: (772) 678-7566
janet@theporterfirm.com
efile@theporterfirm.com