The Phone Call That Changes Everything
The phone rings at an hour no one wants to be awake. Someone from the Taylor County Sheriff’s office, or the Abilene Police Department, or perhaps a chaplain at Hendrick Medical Center, tells you that someone you love is gone. The words sound like they are coming through water. A hotel. A shooting. They are working to identify the person. They ask you to come to the hospital, or to the police station, or to stay where you are and wait.
If the person on the other end of that call is telling you about what happened at the Days Inn on Ridgemont Drive in south Abilene, and if that person is your child, your sibling, your parent, or your partner, then the next hours and days will determine whether you ever get answers, accountability, or the resources to keep living after this loss. What you do now, and who you call, matters more than almost anything else in the weeks ahead.
We have spent decades representing families across Texas after exactly this kind of loss. A loved one killed in a hotel. A shooting. A death the family says was preventable, and the police say is being investigated. We know what the next seventy-two hours require. We know the evidence the Days Inn is sitting on. We know Texas law. And we know the insurance company that will be calling your home within days already has a plan for you that does not include a full recovery.
This page is written for you, the person who just received that call, or the family member who is now holding the phone while someone else drives to the hospital. It is also for the families already weeks or months into this loss who are only now learning they may have rights beyond a criminal case. Every section is built from Texas law, federal evidence rules, and the realities of litigating a negligent-security case against a national hotel brand. If you are in crisis right now, call 1-888-ATTY-911 before you do anything else. The consultation is free, and there is no fee unless we win your case.
Ralph P. Manginello has practiced personal injury and wrongful death law in Texas for over 27 years, since his admission to the Texas Bar in November 1998. He is admitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas and has tried cases throughout the state. Before law school, Ralph worked as a journalist, and he still approaches every case the same way a reporter approaches a story: find the document, follow the record, talk to the witness, and tell the truth about what happened. Lupe Peña is a former insurance-defense attorney who spent years inside the rooms where claims like yours are priced, delayed, and denied. He now uses that knowledge for the families on the other side of those decisions. Lupe is fluent in Spanish and conducts full client consultations in Spanish without an interpreter. Our firm is built around a single principle: the family that lost someone should never have less power in the room than the corporation that faces them.
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 71.002(b): “An action to recover damages for the death of a person may be brought by and in the name of the children of the deceased or by and in the name of the surviving spouse of the deceased, or if there is neither children nor surviving spouse, by and in the name of the parents of the deceased, or by and in the name of the surviving parents of the deceased if the deceased was a minor, or if there is none of the above, by and in the name of the personal representative of the estate of the deceased.”
The law above is the door. The rest of this page tells you what is on the other side of it.
What We Know About the South Abilene Days Inn Shooting
On the morning of Thursday, March 5, 2026, before 7:00 a.m., police responded to reports of gunfire at the Days Inn on Ridgemont Drive in south Abilene. A 29-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. A single male suspect was taken into custody. As of the time the family has spoken publicly, the suspect’s identity had not been released and formal charges had not been filed.
The family has told the press that the victim was at the hotel to meet a woman, and that they believe her boyfriend discovered the meeting and committed the shooting. The Abilene Police Department has not confirmed that account and has not identified the suspect. What the police have confirmed is that one man is dead, one man is in custody, and the location was a Days Inn, a nationally franchised budget hotel where the family believed their loved one was safe enough to go alone at night.
Every part of that last sentence is a legal fact, not an opinion. The fact that the victim was at the Days Inn means the Days Inn had a duty to him. The fact that a shooting occurred at that property means the question of whether the hotel met that duty is now a question for a courtroom, not a hotel manager. And the fact that the family has described a specific motive tied to a third party the hotel may have known about means the evidence in this case is going to look very different from what the hotel’s insurer wants you to see.
You do not need certainty about every fact to act. You need a lawyer who knows what to preserve, what to demand, and how to move against a corporate defendant whose entire model is to delay until you give up.
Who Can Bring a Wrongful Death Case in Texas
Texas is a statute-driven wrongful-death state. The Texas wrongful death statute, found at Chapter 71 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, controls who has the right to file suit, against whom, and for what damages. You do not need a lawyer to file the case in the abstract, but you do need a lawyer to know whether your relationship to the deceased gives you standing to recover.
Under § 71.002, the right to bring a wrongful death action begins with the deceased’s surviving spouse and children. If there is no surviving spouse or children, the right passes to the parents of the deceased. If the parents are deceased, the right passes to the personal representative of the estate, who may bring the action on behalf of the heirs. The statute is strict and exclusive: a person outside the listed classes generally cannot recover, no matter how close the relationship or how devastating the loss.
In addition to a wrongful death claim, Texas recognizes a separate survival action under § 71.021, which belongs to the estate of the deceased and recovers damages the victim himself would have been entitled to had he lived, including the pain, suffering, and mental anguish he endured between the time of the shooting and the time of his death, plus his funeral and burial expenses and any medical bills incurred before death. These two claims are brought together in a single lawsuit but serve different purposes. The wrongful death claim compensates the family for what they lost. The survival action compensates the deceased for what he endured. Both are powerful, and both are yours under Texas law.
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 71.021(a): “A cause of action for personal injury to the health, reputation, or person of an injured person does not abate because of the death of the injured person. If a person dies because of personal injury to the person’s health or because of the injury to the person’s reputation, the person’s legal heirs or personal representative may bring a civil action for the injury.”
The Two-Year Deadline to File in Texas
The single most important number on this page is two years. Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003, a wrongful death action must be filed within two years of the date of death. A survival action arising out of a death also runs two years from death. If you do not file within that window, your case is gone forever. The court will dismiss it, no matter how strong the evidence, no matter how clear the fault.
Two years sounds like a long time. It is not. The evidence we need to preserve in a negligent-security case has life spans measured in days, not years. The hotel’s surveillance video is on a rolling loop. The key-card logs are archived on the hotel’s own schedule. The housekeeping records, the incident reports, the staffing rosters, and the prior-call history from the Abilene Police Department all have windows in which they can vanish, and many of them vanish before the first anniversary of the death. The only reason the two-year deadline does not ruin every case is that it does not have to, because the preservation letter goes out the day you call us.
There is a narrow exception under the discovery rule in certain cases where the death was not immediately known to be wrongful. For a homicide, the two-year clock almost always starts on the date of death, not the date the case is solved, not the date charges are filed, and not the date the family first hears a name. The clock starts when your loved one stops breathing. If you are reading this within weeks or months of the loss, you have time, but not the time you think you have. Call 1-888-ATTY-911 now and we will tell you where the deadline sits in your specific case.
The Texas Two-Year Survival Action Clock
The survival action for the deceased’s pre-death pain and suffering runs on the same two-year clock as the wrongful death claim, calculated from the date of death. This is the reason we treat every case from the first phone call as a preservation emergency, not a paperwork exercise. By the time the hotel’s insurer calls you with a settlement offer, by the time the Abilene Police Department finishes its investigation, by the time you have had a chance to grieve and stabilize your life, half of that clock has run. We do not have the luxury of waiting for answers before we act.
Why the Days Inn Is on the Hook: Negligent Security in Texas
The shooting happened at a Days Inn. That fact alone does not make the hotel liable. Hotels are not insurers of guest safety. But Texas law does impose a real duty on hotels to take reasonable steps to protect guests from foreseeable harm from third parties. That duty arises from the hotel’s status as an innkeeper under Texas common law, and the standard is straightforward: did the hotel know, or should it have known, that a risk existed, and did it take reasonable steps to address that risk.
Negligent security cases turn on three questions, and every one of them is provable from records the Days Inn already has.
First, was the danger foreseeable? A hotel “should have known” of a risk if prior similar incidents occurred on the property, if the neighborhood had a known history of violent crime, if prior guest complaints warned of safety issues, or if the hotel’s own internal risk assessments identified the danger. In south Abilene, near the Mall of Abilene and the US-83/84 corridors, the Days Inn sits in a hospitality hub that has been identified in industry analysis as having a mix of transient guests and local visitors. We will pull the prior-call history from the Abilene Police Department, the hotel’s own incident reports, and any 911 or non-emergency calls to the property.
Second, did the hotel have reasonable security measures in place? The list of questions a jury will hear includes: was the front desk staffed around the clock, or did it close at night? Were exterior doors and room doors secured? Were exterior corridors monitored by camera, and were those cameras actually working? Was the parking lot lit? Did the hotel have a key-card system that tracked entries and exits? Did staff have a procedure for reporting and escalating guest-on-guest violence? Was there a protocol for handling a guest who was discovered to be the target of a third-party threat? The Days Inn’s own corporate standards, including the brand-mandated security practices that franchised hotels are required to follow, will be relevant to what the jury considers reasonable.
Third, did the failure to provide reasonable security cause the death? This is the chain that links the hotel’s choices to your family’s loss. If the shooting could have been prevented by a working camera, a staffed front desk, a checked-in guest registry, a security patrol, a locked side door, or a properly trained staff member who recognized the warning signs, the chain is complete.
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 71.003: “A civil action for damages for death may be brought if the death was caused by a wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, unskillfulness, or default of a person or corporation. The person or corporation or their agents or servants causing the death are jointly and severally liable for the damages.”
The statute makes the hotel, and any other responsible party, jointly and severally liable for the full damages. Joint and several liability is the weapon that prevents a corporation from escaping accountability by pointing at a third party who has no money. The shooter may face criminal consequences, but the corporation that profited from putting your loved one in a dangerous room faces the full civil judgment.
The Days Inn Corporate Shell: Who You Actually Sue
The sign on the building says Days Inn. The corporation that owns and operates that specific Days Inn is almost certainly a separate LLC, often a single-asset entity created for the property. The brand on the window is licensed by Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, the franchisor that grants Days Inn franchisees the right to use the name. Wyndham is a separate corporate entity. The insurance carrier is a separate entity, often Liberty Mutual, often a different one for each location. And the management company, if the franchisee hired one, is yet another layer.
This is the corporate shell game, and it is not accidental. Hotel owners and franchisors use it to keep claims at arm’s length from the deep pocket. We sue the entity that owns the property, the entity that licensed the brand, the entity that insured the operation, and sometimes the management company, all in the same suit, so the insurance money and the corporate money are both within reach of the jury’s verdict. Naming the right defendants is the difference between a judgment that gets paid and a judgment that gets appealed for years while the holding company argues it is not responsible.
In our experience, the franchisor in a case like this can be reached in two ways. First, through the apparent agency theory, which says the franchisor held out the property as its own and is therefore responsible for what happens there. Second, through the failure to enforce brand safety standards, which says the franchisor required certain security measures, knew the franchisee was not following them, and did nothing. Both theories are well-supported in Texas case law and are routinely pursued in negligent-security cases against major hotel brands.
The first step is to identify, through public records and litigation discovery, the actual chain of ownership, management, insurance, and franchise relationship for the Days Inn on Ridgemont Drive. We will file suit against the correct defendants before any statute-of-limitations issue can arise. For more on how we approach the corporate structure in a negligent-security case, see our premises liability practice page.
What Evidence the Days Inn Has That You Need
The single most important thing we do in the first hours of a case like this is send a litigation hold and preservation letter to the Days Inn’s owner, the franchisor, and the management company. That letter freezes the evidence. It does not gather it, but it makes it illegal for the hotel to destroy it. Every piece of evidence listed below is the kind of evidence a negligent-security case lives or dies on, and every piece of it has a finite life span that may be measured in days.
Surveillance video. Hotel CCTV is typically stored on a digital video recorder that records over itself on a rolling loop, often every seven to thirty days. The video from the morning of March 5, 2026, including the parking lot, the exterior corridors, the lobby, and any interior cameras, may already be gone if the hotel waited. If it is still on the system, the preservation letter is what keeps it from being overwritten tomorrow.
Key-card access logs. Each guest key card records every door it opens and the timestamp. The hotel’s property management system has the log of which room keys were used, when, and by whom. The shooter’s key card, the victim’s key card, and any other key cards used at the property that morning are the digital witness that shows who was on site and when.
Guest registry and folio records. The Days Inn’s reservation system has the name under which the room was booked, the credit card used, the address provided, and the check-in and check-out times. This is the record that shows who the hotel believed was staying in the room and whether the hotel had a chance to identify a threat.
Incident reports and prior-call history. Every complaint, every disturbance call, every police response, and every internal incident report at the Days Inn on Ridgemont Drive is a piece of the foreseeability puzzle. The hotel is required to keep an accident register for three years under federal regulation, but its internal incident logs are typically retained on much shorter schedules. We demand them all.
Staffing and training records. Who was working the front desk that morning? Was the desk staffed? Had the night auditor been trained to recognize and escalate threats? Were the doors actually locked? The hotel’s own employee schedules and training records answer these questions.
Police reports. The Abilene Police Department incident report, the 911 audio, and the dispatch log are public records we can obtain. They often contain witness statements and observations made by first responders that are not duplicated anywhere else.
Days Inn brand safety standards. Wyndham, as the franchisor, publishes and enforces brand standards for Days Inn properties covering security, lighting, staffing, and incident response. Those documents, which we obtain from the franchisor, tell the jury what the brand itself believed was the minimum acceptable level of safety. If the franchisee was below that line, the franchisor’s own standards become the measuring stick.
The evidence clock is unforgiving. The hotel’s insurer knows it. We know it. The fight over what records survive is often won or lost in the first week. Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes.
The Insurance Company Playbook: What the Days Will Do to Your Family in the Next Thirty Days
The Days Inn is insured. Behind the hotel’s claims representative is a team of adjusters, defense lawyers, and investigators whose entire job is to minimize the value of your case. Within days of the shooting, that team will contact you. They will be kind. They will be sympathetic. They will tell you they want to “help” and that they want to “resolve this quickly so your family can move on.” Every word will be designed to get you to do one of three things: give a recorded statement, sign a release, or accept a lowball settlement before you have had time to understand what your case is worth. Understanding their playbook is the only way to defeat it.
The friendly “check-in” call. Within seventy-two hours of the death, the hotel’s insurance adjuster will call. They will introduce themselves with a name that sounds like a friend, express sympathy, and ask you to walk them through what happened. They will say they need this to “process the claim” or “coordinate with the police.” What they are actually doing is building a recorded statement they can use to lock you into a version of events before you have hired a lawyer. The counter is simple: do not give a recorded statement. Do not give a written statement. Tell them your family has retained counsel and all future contact should go through your attorney. Then call us.
The fast check with a release. Within two to four weeks, the adjuster will offer a settlement. The number will feel urgent, sometimes generous on its face, and always presented as final. The release they will ask you to sign will waive your right to bring any future claim, including wrongful death, survival, and any claim against the franchisor. The number will be a fraction of the case’s true value and will be calculated to make you feel like you cannot afford to wait. The counter is to never sign a release before you have spoken with a lawyer, and to have the lawyer run the numbers before you decide. A case like this is worth multiples of what an early offer looks like, because the damages stack across decades, not months.
The delay strategy. If you do not sign quickly, the insurance company will go quiet. Months will pass. They will hope you become discouraged, that witnesses become unavailable, that evidence ages out, and that you give up. The counter is the litigation hold and the lawsuit. Once the case is filed in the appropriate Texas court, the deadlines are no longer the insurer’s to control. They are the court’s.
The blame-shift to the criminal actor. Expect the insurer to argue that the shooting was the act of a third party and that the hotel is not responsible for the criminal conduct of others. This is the standard defense in negligent-security cases, and it is almost always wrong. Texas law is clear that a property owner who knows or should know of a foreseeable risk and fails to take reasonable steps to address it is liable, even if the actual harm was inflicted by a third party. The criminal case and the civil case are different cases with different burdens of proof, and the civil case does not require us to wait for a criminal conviction. The counter is the foreseeability evidence: prior incidents, prior calls, prior complaints, the hotel’s own incident reports, the neighborhood’s crime profile, and the hotel’s failure to implement security measures that would have deterred or prevented the attack.
The social media and surveillance watch. The moment the insurance company learns a claim is being made, it will begin monitoring public social media for anything the family has posted. Photos, check-ins, status updates about feeling sad, anything that could be spun into an argument that the family is not as devastated as it claims. The counter is simple: assume everything you post is being read by the other side. Do not delete old posts, because deletion looks like hiding, but do not post anything you would not want a jury to read. Beyond that, the insurance company will sometimes hire investigators to follow family members. We are familiar with these tactics and we can advise you on how to handle them.
The IME — independent medical examination. If a family member has been physically injured in the same incident, the insurer may demand an “independent” medical examination. The doctor is not independent. The doctor is paid by the insurance company and selected to find a way to minimize the injury. The counter is to never attend an IME without your lawyer present, and to push back on any examination that exceeds the scope of your actual physical injuries.
The Damages in a Days Inn Wrongful Death Case: What a Texas Jury Awards
The damages available in a Texas wrongful death case are set out in the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. They include the mental anguish suffered by the surviving spouse and children, the loss of companionship and society, the loss of services and support, the loss of prospective inheritance, and the pecuniary loss sustained by the heirs. In a survival action, the estate recovers the pain and suffering the deceased endured between injury and death, plus funeral and burial expenses, plus any medical bills incurred before death.
Loss of earning capacity. If your loved one was 29 years old and working, the lifetime economic loss calculation is the engine of the case. A forensic economist will project his expected earnings over a working life, account for raises, factor in his likely career trajectory, and present the present-value calculation to the jury. A young man’s lost earning capacity is one of the largest categories of damages in any wrongful death case.
Loss of services and support. This is the loss of what your loved one would have done for the family, from childcare to home maintenance to advice and emotional support. Even a person with modest wages has a substantial claim for the services he would have provided over a normal lifetime.
Loss of companionship and society. Texas law recognizes the profound, non-economic loss to a spouse or child of losing a parent or partner. This category is human-value evidence, and Texas juries are allowed to award it in cases of wrongful death.
Mental anguish. The surviving spouse and children are entitled to recover for the severe emotional distress caused by the sudden, violent death of a loved one. Texas law is clear that mental anguish damages in a wrongful death case are not limited to grief at the moment of death, but extend to the years of suffering that follow.
Pre-death pain and suffering (survival action). If your loved one survived for any period between the shooting and the moment he was pronounced dead, his estate is entitled to recover for the pain, terror, and suffering he experienced during that window. Juries in Texas take this category seriously, particularly in cases of violent death.
Punitive damages. Texas law allows punitive damages in cases where the defendant’s conduct rose to gross negligence, malice, or a conscious disregard for the safety of others. A franchisor or hotel owner that knew of prior violence at the property, that failed to implement the security measures its own brand standards required, and that failed to warn guests of known risks, is a candidate for punitive damages. Punitive damages are not guaranteed, and they are reserved for the most egregious cases, but they are the remedy Texas law provides when a corporation’s conduct goes beyond simple negligence.
Funeral and burial expenses. These are recoverable in a survival action and are usually the first number quantified in a wrongful death case.
The total damages in a Days Inn negligent-security case involving a 29-year-old man can range from the hundreds of thousands of dollars to well into seven figures, depending on the economic profile of the victim, the strength of the foreseeability evidence, the venue in which the case is tried, and the conduct of the defendant. Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes. We will not promise you a number on the first call. We will tell you what the law allows, what the evidence supports, and how the same case has played out in similar venues. The number comes from the proof, not the promise.
The Two-Year Window: A Calendar You Can Hold
If you are reading this in the days or weeks after the death, here is your calendar. The two-year statute of limitations under § 16.003(b) begins on the date of death and runs forward. The evidence preservation clock is measured in days. The insurance company playbook is measured in weeks. The full discovery and trial process is measured in years. Every step on this calendar is governed by what you do right now.
Days one through seven. Call us at 1-888-ATTY-911. We send the litigation hold letter to the Days Inn that same day. We file any necessary requests for the Abilene Police Department records. We identify the correct defendants and begin the corporate-structure investigation. We tell you, in plain English, what is happening and what the next steps are.
Weeks two through four. The Days Inn’s insurer makes contact. We handle that contact for you. We begin gathering the victim’s employment records, medical records, and any pre-incident communications that bear on the case. We identify and interview witnesses.
Months two through six. We file the wrongful death and survival action in the appropriate Texas court, usually the district court in Taylor County or, depending on the defendants, federal court. Discovery begins. The hotel is required to produce its records. The franchisor is required to produce its brand standards and audit records. Depositions are scheduled.
Months six through twenty-four. The case moves through discovery, expert disclosures, mediation, and, if necessary, trial. Mediation is the most common resolution point in a negligent-security case, because the insurance company is usually willing to settle once the evidence is in the open and the trial date is on the calendar.
Month twenty-four. If the case has not been resolved or filed, the statute of limitations expires and your right to bring the case is gone forever. This is why the first phone call matters.
The Criminal Case and the Civil Case: Two Different Fights
A criminal case against the shooter is being investigated by the Abilene Police Department. That case will be prosecuted by the Taylor County District Attorney’s office. The burden of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt. The standard of evidence is high. The penalty, if there is a conviction, is measured in years of prison time, not dollars.
The civil case against the Days Inn is a completely separate fight. The burden of proof is preponderance of the evidence, which means more likely than not. The standard of evidence is lower, the rules of discovery are broader, and the remedy is money damages designed to compensate your family for the loss. You do not have to wait for the criminal case to finish before you bring the civil case, and the civil case does not depend on a criminal conviction. It is common for a civil case to proceed on a theory of negligence even when the criminal case is still being investigated or has not yet reached a verdict.
The two cases can run in parallel, and they often do. Our job in the civil case is to make the hotel and its insurer pay for what they did, and what they failed to do, regardless of what happens in the criminal courtroom. We coordinate with the criminal investigators, where appropriate, and we make sure the civil discovery process does not interfere with the criminal prosecution, but we do not sit and wait.
What to Do Right Now, In Order
If you are reading this after a recent Days Inn shooting in Abilene, here is what to do, in the order that matters most.
First, take care of yourself and your family. Eat. Sleep. Surround yourself with people who love you. Grieve. Do not let anyone, including the insurance company, rush you into a decision about your case before you have begun to understand what has happened.
Second, do not speak with the insurance company. When they call, and they will call, tell them your family has retained counsel and that all future contact should be through your attorney. Do not give a recorded statement. Do not give a written statement. Do not sign anything.
Third, preserve your own evidence. Save any text messages, voicemails, social media messages, or other communications between your loved one and the person they were meeting at the Days Inn, or between your loved one and the suspected shooter. Save the records of any prior stays at Days Inn properties, any prior communications with the hotel, any photos or videos you may have of the property.
Fourth, call us. 1-888-ATTY-911. Free consultation. We will tell you what we can do, what we cannot do, and what your options are. We will tell you whether your case is one we can help with, and we will tell you honestly if it is not. There is no fee unless we win, and the consultation is always free.
How We Build a Negligent Security Case Against a Hotel
A negligent security case against a major hotel brand is built the same way every major case is built: with documents, with witnesses, and with experts. Here is how we approach the work.
The corporate-structure investigation. We identify every entity in the ownership, management, franchise, and insurance chain. We pull the Secretary of State filings. We review the franchise agreement. We review the management agreement. We review the insurance policy. We know the Wyndham and Days Inn corporate structure from having litigated against it, and we know where the records are and how to get them.
The police-records investigation. We obtain the Abilene Police Department incident report, the 911 audio, the dispatch log, the witness statements, and any body-camera footage. We also obtain the prior-call history for the Days Inn on Ridgemont Drive, going back as far as the records allow. If the hotel has had prior incidents of violence, prior police responses, or prior 911 calls, that history is the proof of foreseeability.
The hotel-records discovery. We serve document requests on the Days Inn for the staffing rosters, the training records, the incident reports, the maintenance logs for the security cameras, the key-card access logs, the guest registry, the housekeeping records, the lighting and maintenance records, the parking lot records, and the franchise brand-standards audits. A hotel that claims to have had reasonable security in place will have to produce every one of those records, and the records almost always tell a different story than the hotel’s public statement.
The franchisor records. We serve document requests on Wyndham for the Days Inn brand safety standards, the security audits of the property, the franchise agreement, the training materials provided to the franchisee, the prior complaints about the property, and any termination or non-renewal history if the hotel has had a history of failing to meet brand standards.
The expert work. We retain a security expert to evaluate the property against industry standards, against the Days Inn’s own brand standards, and against what a reasonable hotel operator would have done in the same circumstances. We retain an economist to project the lifetime economic loss. We retain a forensic accountant if the financial picture is complex. We retain a life-care planner if the damages include future medical or personal care needs.
The depositions. We depose the hotel manager, the front-desk staff who were working the morning of the shooting, the franchisor’s regional manager, the security vendor if one was contracted, and any other witnesses who can speak to what the hotel knew, when it knew it, and what it did or did not do about it.
The work is detailed, the work is expensive, and the work is what makes the difference between a case the hotel takes seriously and a case the hotel tries to dismiss for a few thousand dollars. We front the cost of the work. You pay nothing unless we win.
The People Who Will Stand With You
Ralph P. Manginello leads our team. He has practiced personal injury and wrongful death law in Texas for over 27 years, since his admission to the Texas Bar in November 1998. He is admitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Before law school, Ralph worked as a journalist, and he still approaches every case the same way: find the document, follow the record, talk to the witness, and tell the truth. Ralph has represented families in hotel, premises-liability, and negligent-security cases across Texas, including cases against major hotel brands. He is a member of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, the Houston Bar Association, and the Texas Bar.
Lupe Peña is our former-insurance-defense lawyer. He spent years on the other side of these cases, inside the rooms where insurance companies and their lawyers set reserves, valued claims, and decided which families to take seriously. He knows how the defense thinks, how the adjuster thinks, and how the software values the claim. He now uses that knowledge for the families on the other side of those decisions. Lupe is fluent in Spanish and conducts full client consultations in Spanish without an interpreter. If your family prefers to work with a Spanish-speaking attorney, we are ready.
Our firm is built to take on the kind of case the hotel’s insurer would rather you did not bring. The insurer has a team. You should have one too. To learn more about the kinds of cases we handle, visit our wrongful death practice page.
Why Most Families Don’t Sue the Hotel (and Why That’s Exactly What the Hotel Wants)
Most families who lose someone to violence at a hotel never bring a civil case against the hotel. The reasons are predictable, and the hotel’s insurer knows every one of them.
The family does not know they have a case. The insurance company does not tell them, and the police do not tell them, and the hotel certainly does not tell them. Most people do not know that a hotel can be sued for failing to provide reasonable security. They assume the shooter is the only one responsible, and they assume the criminal case is the only available remedy.
The family is overwhelmed. They are grieving, they are exhausted, they are trying to make funeral arrangements, they are trying to take care of their own children, and they are trying to keep their job. The idea of hiring a lawyer and starting a lawsuit is more than they can carry in the first months.
The insurance company tells them the case is not worth much. The adjuster offers a small settlement, sometimes a few thousand dollars, and frames it as the best the family can hope for. The family, not knowing better, takes it. The case is closed. The hotel’s insurer moves on. Nothing changes at the property.
The statute of limitations runs. The family finally decides to look into a case, only to learn that the two-year deadline has already passed, or is about to, and the window has closed.
Every one of these outcomes is a win for the hotel’s insurer and a loss for the family. The way to break that pattern is to make the phone call before the insurer makes theirs. The way to break that pattern is to call us.
The Texas Venue for Your Case
The wrongful death and survival action will be filed in the appropriate Texas court. In most cases involving a death in Taylor County, the action is filed in the Taylor County District Court, which sits in Abilene. If the defendants include a non-Texas corporate entity and the amount in controversy exceeds the federal threshold, the case may be filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Abilene Division. We will advise you on the right venue based on the specific defendants and the specific facts of your case.
The venue matters because Texas venue rules and federal venue rules are not identical, and because the local rules of each court govern everything from how discovery is conducted to when the case is set for trial. We practice in both state and federal court in Texas, and we know the local rules of the courts in Taylor County and the Northern District of Texas. The right venue is one of the first decisions we make, and it affects everything that follows.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can my family sue the Days Inn for the shooting death of our loved one?
Yes. Texas law allows the family of a person killed by the wrongful act, neglect, or default of another to bring a wrongful death action. The Days Inn, as the operator of the property where the shooting occurred, owed a duty of reasonable care to your loved one as a guest, and if the hotel failed to meet that duty in a way that contributed to the death, the hotel is liable. The shooter faces criminal consequences. The hotel faces civil liability. Both can happen, and they often do. For more on how we approach these cases, see our wrongful death practice page.
Who has the legal right to file a wrongful death case in Texas?
Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 71.002, the right to file belongs first to the surviving spouse and children of the deceased. If there is no surviving spouse or children, the right passes to the parents of the deceased. If the parents are also deceased, the right passes to the personal representative of the estate, who may bring the action on behalf of the heirs. A person outside these classes generally cannot file. The statute is strict, and the right does not transfer to extended family, friends, or unmarried partners under the wrongful death statute, though unmarried partners may have rights under other legal theories.
How long do I have to file a wrongful death case in Texas?
Two years from the date of death. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003 sets the two-year statute of limitations for wrongful death and survival actions. If the case is not filed within two years, the right to bring it is permanently lost. The clock starts on the date of death, not the date the family learns the details or the date the criminal case is resolved. Call us at 1-888-ATTY-911 the moment you are ready, so we can preserve evidence and file within the deadline.
What is the difference between a wrongful death case and a survival action?
A wrongful death case belongs to the family and compensates them for their losses, including loss of earning capacity, loss of services and support, loss of companionship, and mental anguish. A survival action belongs to the estate of the deceased and compensates him for what he personally endured, including the pain, suffering, and mental anguish he experienced between the time of the shooting and the time of his death, plus his funeral and burial expenses and any medical bills incurred before death. Both claims are typically brought together in a single lawsuit, but they serve different purposes and compensate different losses.
How much is a wrongful death case against a hotel worth in Texas?
The value depends on the specific facts. The damages in a Texas wrongful death case include the economic value of the deceased’s lost earnings over his working life, the value of the services he would have provided his family, the loss of companionship and society, the mental anguish of the surviving family, and, in a survival action, the pain and suffering the deceased endured before death. Funeral and burial expenses are also recoverable. In cases where the defendant’s conduct was particularly egregious, punitive damages may also be available. A case involving a 29-year-old man with a working life ahead of him, killed in a violent attack at a hotel that failed to provide reasonable security, can be worth a substantial sum, but the exact value depends on the evidence, the venue, and the specific defendant. We will tell you what the evidence supports after we have had a chance to investigate.
What evidence do I need to prove the hotel is responsible?
You need evidence that the danger was foreseeable, that the hotel had reasonable security measures available but failed to implement them, and that the failure caused the death. The evidence typically comes from the hotel’s own records (incident reports, staffing rosters, training records, maintenance logs, surveillance video if it survives), the franchisor’s brand standards, the Abilene Police Department’s prior-call history for the property, witness statements, and expert analysis by a security professional. The strongest cases are built on the hotel’s own records, because the hotel’s own records almost always tell a different story than the hotel’s public statement.
The hotel’s insurance company has already called me. What should I do?
Tell them your family has retained counsel and that all future contact should be through your attorney. Do not give a recorded statement. Do not give a written statement. Do not sign anything. The insurance adjuster is trained to minimize the value of your case, and the first conversation is the most important one. The free consultation at 1-888-ATTY-911 is always available, and there is no fee unless we win.
How much does it cost to hire a wrongful death lawyer in Texas?
We work on a contingency fee, which means you pay nothing up front and nothing out of pocket. Our fee is a percentage of the recovery we obtain for you. If we do not win, you owe us nothing. The free consultation is exactly that, free, and there is no obligation. Contingency fee arrangements are standard in Texas wrongful death cases, and they exist precisely so that a family without resources can still hold a hotel accountable. The percentage adjusts based on whether the case resolves before or after a lawsuit is filed, with the higher percentage applying if the case proceeds through trial.
What if the suspected shooter is never charged or convicted?
The criminal case and the civil case are different. The civil case does not require a criminal conviction, and it does not require criminal charges at all. The civil case requires only that the family prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the hotel was negligent in providing security and that the negligence caused the death. We can proceed with the civil case even if the criminal case never produces charges, or even if the criminal case produces charges that are later dropped or result in an acquittal. The standard of proof in a civil case is much lower than the standard in a criminal case, and the two cases do not depend on each other.
Can I afford to wait before calling a lawyer?
No. The two-year statute of limitations is the longest clock, but it is not the most important clock. The evidence preservation clock is the one that matters most in the first weeks. Hotel surveillance video, key-card access logs, staffing rosters, and incident reports all have finite life spans measured in days. The insurance company’s playbook is designed to settle the case for a fraction of its value within the first thirty days. The longer you wait, the more evidence is lost and the more leverage the hotel has. Call us at 1-888-ATTY-911 today. The consultation is free, there is no fee unless we win, and the call costs you nothing except the time it takes to dial.
Is the franchisor, Wyndham, also responsible?
Potentially. The franchisor that licenses the Days Inn brand can be reached in a negligent-security case under two theories. First, if the franchisor held out the property as its own and exercised control over the operations, the franchisor can be liable under an apparent agency or actual agency theory. Second, if the franchisor required certain security standards in its brand manual, knew the franchisee was not meeting them, and did nothing, the franchisor can be liable for failure to enforce its own standards. We name the franchisor in the lawsuit and let the jury decide whether the franchisor’s relationship to the property was enough to create legal responsibility. To learn more about how we approach the corporate structure in these cases, see our premises liability practice page.
What if my loved one was doing something he shouldn’t have been doing when he was killed?
Texas follows a modified comparative fault rule. Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 33.001, a plaintiff whose fault is fifty-one percent or more cannot recover, and a plaintiff whose fault is fifty percent or less has their recovery reduced by their percentage of fault. The question of whether meeting someone at a hotel is “fault” is a question the defense will raise, and the answer depends on the specific facts. Texas law does not bar recovery simply because the deceased was in a place or a situation the defense considers unwise. The law looks at whether the conduct was a substantial factor in causing the death, and the hotel’s failure to provide reasonable security remains a cause regardless of what the guest was doing. We will fight any attempt by the defense to use the victim’s personal life to reduce or eliminate the hotel’s responsibility.
Can we recover punitive damages in a Texas wrongful death case against a hotel?
Possibly. Texas law allows punitive damages when the defendant’s conduct rose to gross negligence, malice, or a conscious disregard for the safety of others. A hotel that knew of prior violence at the property, that failed to implement the security measures its own brand standards required, that failed to warn guests of known risks, and that continued to collect money from guests despite the danger, is a candidate for punitive damages. Punitive damages are reserved for the most egregious cases and are not awarded in every wrongful death case, but they are the remedy Texas law provides when a corporation’s conduct goes beyond simple negligence. We will evaluate the punitive damages question as the evidence develops.
What does the days Inn’s insurance company already know about this property?
The hotel’s insurance carrier has a file on this property that may include prior claims, prior incidents of violence, prior guest complaints, prior 911 calls, and any prior litigation involving the Days Inn on Ridgemont Drive. The insurance company knows the history of its own insured property, and that history is the first thing we demand in discovery. If the hotel has had prior shootings, prior stabbings, prior robberies, prior reports of drug activity, prior reports of prostitution, or prior reports of violent guests, the insurance company knows about it, and the jury will hear about it.
What if my loved one was not technically a guest at the hotel?
Even if the deceased was visiting another guest rather than having his own room, the hotel still owed a duty of reasonable care to people on the premises. Texas law recognizes that businesses owe duties not only to customers and invitees but also to people the business should reasonably have known might be on the property. A hotel that allows visitors without checking identification, without logging entry, and without escorting the visitor to the guest’s room is a hotel that has accepted the visitor’s presence and the corresponding duty of care. The exact duty owed depends on the visitor’s status under Texas premises law, and we will evaluate that question for your specific case.
Will the criminal case interfere with the civil case?
The criminal case and the civil case can run in parallel without interfering with each other. The criminal case is prosecuted by the Taylor County District Attorney’s office, and the standard of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt. The civil case is brought by your family against the Days Inn, and the standard of proof is preponderance of the evidence. The two cases have different parties, different burdens, different rules, and different remedies. We coordinate with the criminal investigators where appropriate, and we make sure the civil discovery process does not interfere with the criminal prosecution, but the civil case does not have to wait for the criminal case to finish. In many cases, the civil case actually moves faster than the criminal case, and the civil discovery process can uncover evidence the criminal investigators never had access to.
What if the family does not have money to hire a lawyer?
You do not need money to hire us. We work on a contingency fee, which means our fee is a percentage of the recovery we obtain. If we do not recover for you, you owe us nothing. The free consultation is always free, and there is no obligation to retain us after the consultation. Contingency fee arrangements are how the civil justice system works for ordinary families against well-funded corporate defendants, and they exist precisely so that the family without resources can still hold the hotel with resources accountable. The free consultation costs you nothing. Calling costs you nothing. The work costs you nothing unless we win. That is our promise, and it is in writing.
What about the man’s family — do they have rights too?
The wrong kind of question, and we understand why it comes up. The family of the person who was killed has the right to bring the wrongful death case, regardless of the circumstances of the death. The family of the suspected shooter has no claim against the hotel, because their family member is the alleged wrongdoer, not the victim. We represent the victim’s family, and our loyalty is to the family that lost someone. The shooter faces criminal prosecution in the criminal courts. The hotel faces civil liability in the civil courts. The two are separate, and the victim’s family is not required to wait for the criminal case to be resolved before pursuing the civil case against the hotel.
What if we just want answers, not money?
We hear that often, and we believe you. Most of the families we represent want to know what happened, want to make sure it does not happen to another family, and want the person or company responsible to be held accountable. Money is the way the civil justice system delivers those things, because the only way to force a hotel to change its practices is to make it expensive not to change. The financial recovery in your case is the lever that makes the hotel sit up and pay attention. A jury verdict against a hotel for negligent security sends a message to every other hotel in the chain: if you do not protect your guests, you will pay. That is the work the civil case does, and it is the work that money damages make possible.
How do I get started?
Call 1-888-ATTY-911. The call is free. The consultation is free. We will talk to you about what happened, what your options are, and what the next steps look like. We will tell you honestly whether we can help. If we can, we will explain how the process works, what the timeline looks like, and what you can expect. If we cannot, we will tell you that too, and we will try to point you toward someone who can. The first step is the hardest step, and it is a phone call. We are here when you are ready. Hablamos Español. Llámenos al 1-888-ATTY-911. La consulta es gratis. No hay honorarios a menos que ganemos.
To learn more about how we handle these cases, visit our wrongful death practice page and our premises liability practice page. You can also learn more about the kinds of cases we handle on our main practice areas page.
For more on what to do in the days after a violent loss and how the insurance playbook works, see our YouTube video on what not to say to an insurance adjuster and our YouTube video on what to do if your insurance claim is denied. For more on how contingency fees work in injury and wrongful death cases, see our YouTube video explaining contingency fees.
If you have already retained another attorney, do not switch just because you read this page. But if you have not, and if you are within the two-year window, and if you want a team that has spent decades taking on the hotel chains and the insurance carriers, call us. 1-888-ATTY-911. Free consultation. No fee unless we win. Hablamos Español. Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes.