Texas Mass-Casualty & Negligent Security Lawyers — If the Alleged White House Attack Plot Had Succeeded, Who Could Victims Sue? Attorney911’s Ralph Manginello (27+ Years Federal-Court Trial) and Lupe Peña (Former Insurance-Defense Attorney) Explain Sovereign Immunity, the FTCA Discretionary-Function Bar, and Texas Wrongful Death Law (CPRC § 71.002) — Free 24/7 Consultation, 1-888-ATTY-911

What the News Did Not Tell You: The Civil Case Behind a Mass-Casualty Plot

You read the headlines this week. Five people — Tycen Proper, Bryan Roa, Michael Thomas, Daniel Eskridge, and Abraham Alvarez — arrested in a multi-state federal sweep for allegedly plotting a mass-casualty attack using explosive drones and five sniper teams at a UFC event at the White House. The target list allegedly included the President, the Vice President, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Elon Musk. The backup plan involved stealing military ordnance from a Kansas ammunition plant. The plot was foiled. Nobody was hurt.

If you are a Texan, you are asking the question the news cycle will not answer: What if it had not been foiled? What if the plot had succeeded and my family was in the crowd? Who could I sue? Could I recover anything? Is there even a civil case?

We are trial lawyers in Texas — Ralph Manginello, 27+ years in courtrooms including federal court, and Lupe Peña, who spent years inside a national insurance-defense firm before crossing to the plaintiff’s side. We are not involved in this federal prosecution. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division handle criminal terrorism cases. We will not pretend otherwise. What we can do is tell you, plainly and in detail, what the civil case would look like if a mass-casualty attack actually succeeded — because the law is real, the barriers are real, and families across Texas who attend concerts, rodeos, college football games, UFC fights, and other public events deserve to understand their rights before they need them.

This page is the educational explainer the news never provides. It walks the criminal-to-civil bridge, names the realistic private-defendant pool, exposes the federal sovereign-immunity wall, walks Texas wrongful-death and survival law in plain English, lays out the evidence preservation clock, names the insurance playbook we have seen from the inside, and answers the questions families actually ask when they call us after a mass-casualty event.

What Investigators Allege Happened — In the Limited Public Record

We are bound by what has been made public. The unsealed charging documents and DOJ press disclosures tell a specific story:

• Five defendants, arrested in June 2026 in a multi-state federal sweep, allegedly coordinated a plot against the White House during UFC Freedom 250 — a public event held on the White House grounds.
• The primary mechanism, according to investigators, was explosive-laden drones launched over the UFC arena and detonated above the crowd, with the goal of forcing evacuation of “high-value targets” (HVTs) to a pre-staged “southern evacuation point” — described in the complaint as a kill zone covered by five sniper teams.
• Alleged coded target list referenced in encrypted group chats: “1” for President Trump, “2” for Vice President Vance, “N” for Prime Minister Netanyahu, and “Musk” for Elon Musk. The youngest defendant, Proper, allegedly kept a journal listing 46 individuals.
• The backup plan, per charging documents, involved stealing military ordnance from the Kansas Army Ammunition Plant in Parsons, Kansas — a real DoD installation in Labette County — after the conspirators determined they lacked the expertise to manufacture homemade explosives.
• Safe houses were allegedly prepared at a six-acre rural property in Kidder, Missouri, complete with a hidden bunker beneath shed floorboards, and at an abandoned brick church in Nebraska.
• Prosecutors identified Alvarez as the alleged online ringleader. Funding allegedly came from “graduation money” ($3,000 spent by Proper on ammunition, ballistic plates, AR-style rifles, and a bullpup rifle painted with an American flag) and from a crowdsource attempt to raise $1,300 for drones and explosive charges.

The motive, according to investigators, included anti-government ideology, antisemitic beliefs, and satanic-conspiracy theories about infant sacrifice. The investigation involved the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (given the ammunition-plant and explosives nexus), and the Department of Homeland Security. The White House falls under the Secret Service’s National Special Security Event (NSSE) perimeter when designated by the President of the United States.

That is the public record. It is a federal criminal matter. Five people face federal charges. The plot was stopped. And the families of Texas deserve to know what would happen if it had not been stopped.

Why This Is a Criminal Case First — And Why That Matters for the Civil Question

The federal criminal charges most likely include 18 U.S.C. § 2332a (use of weapons of mass destruction), 18 U.S.C. § 2339A (providing material support to terrorism), 18 U.S.C. § 844 (explosives), 18 U.S.C. § 1114 (killing federal officials), and 18 U.S.C. § 371 (general conspiracy). The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and DOJ’s National Security Division will prosecute. Sentencing ranges under § 2332a reach life imprisonment or the death penalty where death results.

That is not our work. We are personal-injury trial lawyers, not federal criminal-defense counsel. We will not represent these five defendants and we will not represent the United States in the prosecution.

But the line between a federal criminal case and a state civil case matters enormously for victims’ families. In Texas, a person killed in a mass-casualty attack at a private venue — a UFC fight at a stadium, a concert, a college football game, a rodeo — is not foreclosed from civil recovery just because the attacker has been criminally charged. Criminal conviction and civil recovery are separate tracks. A family can pursue a wrongful-death action in Texas state court against the private entities whose security choices failed, even while the federal government prosecutes the attacker separately.

That distinction is the entire reason this page exists. Because the next question — the one the news will not ask — is who, exactly, is civilly liable when a private venue’s security plan fails to stop a foreseeable attack.

The Real Civil Question: Who Can Victims Sue When a Mass-Casualty Attack Succeeds?

If a Texas family lost a loved one at a mass-casualty event at a private venue — a Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo concert, an NRG Stadium fight, an Austin COTA event, a Dallas AT&T Stadium show — the realistic civil-defendant pool looks like this:

1. The private venue operator — the company that owns and operates the stadium, arena, or event space.
2. The event promoter — the company producing the event (UFC, Live Nation, AEG, the rodeo association).
3. The private security contractor — the company hired to provide security screening, access control, perimeter monitoring, or counter-drone coverage.
4. Third-party vendors — ticketing platforms, bag-check services, metal-detector operators, parking operators, anyone whose negligence contributed to the security failure.
5. The insurance carriers behind all of them — the entities that will actually pay any judgment, subject to policy limits, exclusions, and the federal Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) framework where applicable.

Each of these defendants carries commercial general liability, premises liability, and often specialized event-liability coverage. Each can be sued under Texas premises-liability law, common-law negligence, and (in egregious cases) for gross negligence or malice under the standards that support punitive damages under Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 41.008.

But there is one defendant the families cannot reach: the federal government itself. And the reason is sovereign immunity.

The Wall Most Families Never See: Sovereign Immunity and the FTCA Discretionary-Function Exception

The discretionary-function exception bars claims against the United States “based upon the exercise or performance or the failure to exercise or perform a discretionary function or duty on the part of a federal agency or an employee of the Government, whether or not the discretion involved be abused.” — 28 U.S.C. § 2680(a)

The Federal Tort Claims Act (28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 2674) waives federal sovereign immunity and lets certain tort suits proceed against the United States. Theoretically, the family of a person killed in a federal building or at a National Special Security Event could file an administrative claim with the appropriate federal agency, and then sue in federal court if denied.

But two statutory exceptions make this almost impossible in a mass-casualty security case.

First, the discretionary-function exception. Section 2680(a) keeps the federal government immune from claims “based upon the exercise or performance or the failure to exercise or perform a discretionary function or duty.” The U.S. Supreme Court has read this broadly. In Berkovitz v. United States, 486 U.S. 531 (1988), and United States v. Gaubert, 499 U.S. 315 (1991), the Court held that decisions about how to allocate security resources — how many agents, what kind of screening equipment, what counter-drone technology, what perimeter, what staffing levels — are precisely the kind of discretionary policy choices Congress meant to shield. The Supreme Court has applied this exception to dismiss claims arising from security planning at federal facilities, including claims that the government should have provided more security, better security, or different security.

Second, the 2-year FTCA clock and the administrative-exhaustion trap. Under 28 U.S.C. § 2401(b), an FTCA claim is “forever barred” unless presented in writing to the appropriate federal agency within two years after it accrues. Under 28 U.S.C. § 2675(a), no suit can be filed until the agency issues a final denial — and the SF-95 administrative-claim process can take six months to a year or more by itself.

The combination is brutal: a family must file an SF-95 with the right federal agency within 2 years (a form most families do not know exists), wait for denial, then consider suit — and even then, the suit will likely be dismissed under the discretionary-function exception the moment a federal judge reads the complaint.

This is the wall. It is the reason our firm tells families, plainly, that the United States Secret Service, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the other federal agencies that plan security for NSSE events are essentially unreachable in civil court. You cannot sue the agency that planned the security; you can only sue the private entities whose security execution failed.

Texas Wrongful Death and Survival Law: What a Family Could Actually Recover

If the private defendant pool is viable — and in many mass-casualty cases it is, because insurance coverage and corporate assets exist — Texas law provides the cause of action. We walk it in detail because most families have never seen the statutes in plain English.

Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 71.002 — Wrongful Death. This is the statute that creates the cause of action when a person is killed by the “wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, unskillfulness, or default” of another. The action is brought by the surviving spouse, the children, or the parents of the deceased — and the recovery is for the benefit of that statutory class.

The damages recoverable in a Texas wrongful-death case include:

• Pecuniary loss — the financial support the deceased would have contributed to the family had they lived. This is calculated from the deceased’s earnings, earning capacity, and the value of the household services they provided.
• Loss of companionship and society — the love, comfort, and consortium the family has lost. Texas allows this even where the financial loss is hard to quantify.
• Mental anguish — the grief, sorrow, and emotional distress suffered by the survivors as a direct result of the death.
• Loss of parental guidance — for surviving minor children, the loss of the care, training, guidance, and support the deceased parent would have provided.

Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 74.001 — Survival Action. This is the second, separate claim that many families do not know exists. If the deceased survived the attack for any period — even hours, even minutes in the hospital — a survival action can be brought on behalf of the estate for the conscious pain and suffering, the medical bills, and the lost wages the deceased experienced between the attack and death. We have handled survival actions stacking six- and seven-figure pre-death suffering onto a base wrongful-death case.

Punitive damages under § 41.008. Texas law permits punitive damages where the defendant acted with malice or gross negligence. The standard is clear and convincing evidence. A venue that knew about specific threats and cut security corners to save money, a security contractor that failed to staff the post-crash response, a promoter that ignored a credible warning — each could support a punitive award on top of compensatory damages.

Texas imposes no general cap on wrongful-death non-economic damages (a 1988 statute capping medical-malpractice pain-and-suffering recoveries does not apply to ordinary wrongful death). The only practical limit is what a jury will find fair — and the insurance coverage available to pay it.

Texas’s 51% Bar: What Happens If Your Loved One Was Partly at Fault

Texas is a modified comparative negligence state under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.001. This means a plaintiff’s recovery is reduced by their percentage of fault — and barred entirely if their fault reaches 51%. So if a jury finds that a victim was 50% at fault for being in a particular area or not following an instruction, the family still recovers half. If the jury finds 51% or more, the family recovers nothing.

Mass-casualty defendants and their insurance carriers will hunt for percentage points to assign to victims — “they were standing in a restricted area,” “they had been drinking,” “they ignored a verbal warning.” Every percentage point is money. This is the playbook Lupe Peña saw from the inside, and it is the playbook we dismantle in every case we handle. (For a broader look at the comparative-fault mechanics that drive insurance negotiations, see our explanation of partial-fault cases.)

The 2-year statute of limitations under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003 is the second clock. A wrongful-death action must be filed within two years of the death. A survival action must be filed within two years of the injury that caused the death. Miss that window and the case is gone — and federal criminal cases routinely take 18 to 36 months to resolve, which can eat most of that window before the family can even see the federal evidence they need.

The Evidence Clock: What Families Must Preserve — And What Federal Investigators Take First

In a mass-casualty event, evidence sits in multiple hands. The federal government takes priority. FBI, ATF, DHS, and the U.S. Secret Service will control the crime scene, the physical evidence, the cell phones, the surveillance footage, and the witness statements. Local police, fire, and EMS will have their own records. The private venue, the security contractor, and the event promoter each control their own CCTV, access logs, badge scans, metal-detector records, and internal communications.

The clocks start running immediately.

• Private venue CCTV. Most commercial surveillance systems overwrite on a 30-to-90-day cycle. The day the venue’s media team announces they are “cooperating fully with the investigation” is the day the footage is at highest risk of being lost. A preservation letter must go out the day you retain counsel — not the day the federal investigation closes.
• Access control and ticketing records. Electronic turnstile logs, ticket-scan data, RFID badge records, and credentialing databases can be purged on a rolling basis. These records are the spine of any plaintiff theory about who knew what, when, and how many people were in which zone.
• Private security contractor records. Post orders, staffing rosters, training records, radio logs, incident reports, internal emails — all of it is critical, and all of it is the property of a private company that can choose to retain it or not. The preservation letter freezes that choice.
• Federal investigation records. FBI 302s, ATF trace results, Secret Service NSSE security plans, DHS threat bulletins, CISA advisories — these are controlled by DOJ. Civil discovery is stayed during the criminal case, but FOIA requests can be filed and will eventually produce records. The 18-to-36-month federal timeline means civil counsel must begin FOIA work in parallel, not at the end.
• Cell phones of the deceased and the survivors. Family members often wipe, replace, or donate a deceased loved one’s phone within days. We tell clients to put the device in a drawer, untouched, and to obtain a court order for forensic preservation. The phone’s location data, messages, photos, and apps can establish presence, awareness, and the last minutes of the victim’s life.

For families wondering what to do in the first 72 hours, the order is: (1) medical and law-enforcement cooperation first, (2) phone and personal-device preservation second, (3) social-media silence third, (4) call counsel fourth, and (5) do not speak with the venue’s insurer or claims representative until counsel is in the room.

The Insurance Playbook: How Venue Insurers Handle Mass-Casualty Exposure

Mass-casualty events trigger a different scale of insurance response, but the playbook is the same one we have seen in refineries, on 18-wheelers, and in wrongful-death cases across Texas. Lupe Peña spent years in those rooms. He watched it work. Here is how it works at scale.

1. The “sympathy call” with a release attached. Within days of a mass-casualty event, a claims representative from the venue’s commercial general liability carrier will reach out. The tone is warm, the language is empathetic, and the request is small: “Can you give us a recorded statement about what your loved one experienced?” The statement is engineered to pin percentages, lock in admissions, and surface anything that can be used to assign comparative fault. If the family signs anything — a release, a statement authorization, a recording consent — the leverage shifts permanently. (For a deeper walk through what to never say to an adjuster, see our guide to recorded statements.)
2. The “act of terrorism” defense. The venue’s insurer will invoke the terrorism exclusion in the commercial general liability policy and push the claim into the federal Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) framework. TRIA requires the federal government to certify the event as an act of terrorism for the backstop to apply — a slow process that lets the insurer delay. The family must understand that “terrorism” is a label, not a bar to civil recovery. The private venue, the private security contractor, and the private promoter are still liable under Texas law for the security choices they made.
3. The “joint defense agreement” consolidating the defendants. In a mass-casualty case, the venue, the security contractor, the promoter, and the third-party vendors will typically enter a joint defense agreement. They share information, align defenses, and file coordinated motions. The family sees one defense team even though multiple defendants are nominally involved. This is normal and expected — but it also means a single well-placed deposition or motion can crack the entire alignment.
4. The “sealed settlement with confidentiality” play. Insurance carriers prefer to settle mass-casualty cases individually, in secret, with confidentiality clauses that prevent families from comparing recoveries. The first family to settle at a low number sets the anchor for every subsequent family. This is why we tell clients, uniformly, to not be the first to settle and to demand transparency in any resolution.

The counter to each play is the same counter we use in every case: refuse the recorded statement, refuse the release, retain counsel before any contact with the insurer, preserve all evidence in parallel with the federal investigation, and understand that the criminal case is the prosecutor’s work — the civil case is the family’s work, on a separate track, on a separate clock.

Case Value: What Mass-Casualty Verdicts Have Actually Looked Like

The honest answer is that mass-casualty case values vary enormously by jurisdiction, defendant pool, insurance coverage, and the specific facts. We do not promise outcomes. We do not quote averages. We can tell you, however, what published verdicts and settlements have looked like in similar cases — because the precedent shapes every negotiation that follows.

Reference verdicts and settlements (public record, not our cases):

• Sutherland Springs church shooting (Texas, 2017) — Multiple wrongful-death and survival actions resolved against the federal government (under the Air Force’s failure to report the perpetrator’s domestic-violence convictions) and against private parties; individual recoveries reported in the seven-figure range.
• San Jose VTA light-rail shooting (California, 2021) — A 2024 settlement reported at over $6 million on behalf of victims and families of the deceased.
• Pulse nightclub (Orlando, 2016) — A $145 million settlement package funded by insurance recoveries from the venue and surrounding businesses.
• Las Vegas Route 91 Harvest Festival (2017) — Settlements reported at over $800 million from MGM Resorts and other defendants, driven by a combination of premises-liability theory and security-contractor negligence.
• Tree of Life synagogue (Pittsburgh, 2018) — Multiple civil actions filed against the shooter (judgment-only) and against social-media platforms; the case expanded the universe of potential civil defendants in mass-casualty litigation.

For a hypothetical mass-casualty event at a Texas venue, the realistic per-victim value of a wrongful-death recovery depends on:

• The age, earnings, and earning capacity of the deceased.
• The number of dependents (spouse, minor children, elderly parents).
• The clarity of the security-failure theory against the private defendants.
• The available insurance coverage — typically $5 million to $50 million per occurrence in commercial general liability, with TRIA backstop if the event is federally certified as terrorism.
• Whether punitive damages are supportable on the facts.

A single wrongful-death case at a Texas venue could realistically value between $5 million and $50 million depending on the variables above. A multi-victim event can easily reach $50 million to $500 million or more in total exposure. Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes. Every case is its own case. But the legal framework is real, the precedent is real, and the recovery is achievable when the proof is built correctly.

Active-Shooter Standards, Counter-Drone Technology, and the Security Failure Theory

A civil negligent-security case in 2026 and beyond will increasingly turn on the standards the venue said it met. The National Fire Protection Association’s NFPA 3000 (Standard for an Active Shooter / Hostile Event Response Program) has become the de facto industry standard for active-shooter preparedness, and venues that claim compliance with NFPA 3000 are held to it in litigation when an attack succeeds.

Similarly, counter-drone technology has become a critical venue-security consideration. The alleged plot in this case used explosive-laden drones — a method the FAA, CISA, and DHS have warned about repeatedly since 2018. A venue that has a drone-incursion plan, a venue that coordinates with the FAA’s DroneZone restrictions, a venue that has counter-UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) detection or jamming capability — each of these creates a duty. A venue that has none of them, and that has not coordinated with federal or local authorities on the threat, creates a fact pattern that supports the security-failure theory.

The expert retention in these cases is technical: a security-standards expert to walk the venue’s compliance with NFPA 3000, a counter-drone expert to assess the venue’s UAS defenses, a ballistics or blast-effects expert for the physical-injury analysis, a venue-design expert for the evacuation-route geometry, and a forensic accountant or life-care planner for the damages calculation. The proof story is built around what the venue knew, when it knew it, what standards it claimed to follow, and where it cut corners.

What Mass-Casualty Cases Look Like From the First Responder Side

Our firm has spent decades in the refinery, offshore, and construction accident space — work that puts us in the same discovery trenches as the first responders, the emergency medical technicians, the firefighters, and the law-enforcement officers who respond to mass-casualty events. We have walked the same deposition rooms, the same incident-investigation reports, the same OSHA and federal safety frameworks, and the same multi-defendant commercial-insurance defenses that a mass-casualty event will produce. (For an example of the work that informs our approach, see our Houston construction-accident guide and our refinery-accident guide.)

First responders and EMS professionals who suffer PTSD or physical injury in a mass-casualty response have their own civil case. The DSM-5 criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder are typically met by a mass-casualty response; treatment is often delayed because of the responder’s reluctance to seek help. PTSD recoveries in the responder context can be substantial when the proof is built correctly, and the workers’ compensation system often leaves the responder with under-resourced care.

What Our Firm Does — And Does Not Do — In Cases Like This

We are a Texas trial firm. Ralph Manginello has spent 27+ years in courtrooms, including federal court, in personal-injury, wrongful-death, and complex-civil litigation. He was a journalist before he was a lawyer, and the storytelling craft shows up in how we try cases to juries. The firm has recovered more than $50 million for Texas families since 1998, and the team has been part of the BP Texas City refinery explosion litigation — one of the largest mass-casualty industrial events in modern Texas history. (For an overview of our work, see our attorneys page.)

Lupe Peña is a former insurance-defense attorney who spent years inside a national defense firm, in the rooms where adjusters and valuation software decided how to deny, delay, and devalue claims. He now fights for victims. He serves Texas families fully in Spanish. (For the full list of our practice areas, see our practice areas, including wrongful death, brain injury, and premises liability work.)

We are not involved in the federal prosecution of the five defendants in the alleged White House plot. We are not representing the United States, the Secret Service, or any federal agency. We are not retained by the alleged victims of this specific case — because the plot was foiled and there are no victims to represent. This page is educational. It exists so that the next Texas family who reads about a mass-casualty event in the news understands what the law actually allows, what it actually blocks, and who they can call if the worst happens at a venue near them.

If a mass-casualty event ever affects your family at a Texas venue, the consultation is free, there is no fee unless we win, and we serve you in English or in Spanish. Hablamos Español. Call 1-888-ATTY-911.

Frequently Asked Questions

If a mass-casualty attack happens at a Texas event, who can my family sue?

The realistic private-defendant pool includes the venue operator, the event promoter, the private security contractor, and any third-party vendors whose negligence contributed to the security failure. The federal government (Secret Service, FBI, DHS) is generally immune under the Federal Tort Claims Act’s discretionary-function exception. We file suit in Texas state court under CPRC § 71.002 (wrongful death) and § 74.001 (survival) against the private entities, not the federal government.

Can we sue the United States Secret Service or the FBI?

Effectively, no. The discretionary-function exception in 28 U.S.C. § 2680(a) bars claims based on discretionary security-planning decisions. The U.S. Supreme Court has read this exception broadly in Berkovitz v. United States, 486 U.S. 531 (1988), and United States v. Gaubert, 499 U.S. 315 (1991). There is also a 2-year administrative-claim clock and a requirement that the family file an SF-95 with the right federal agency first, under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2401(b) and 2675(a). Even if the family clears those hurdles, the case is almost always dismissed.

What is the statute of limitations for a Texas wrongful-death case?

Two years from the date of death under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003. A survival action under § 74.001 also runs two years from the injury that caused the death. Federal criminal cases often take 18 to 36 months to resolve, which can eat most of that window — so civil counsel must act in parallel, not in sequence.

What if my loved one was partly at fault?

Texas is a modified comparative-fault state under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.001. The family’s recovery is reduced by the deceased’s percentage of fault and barred entirely if that percentage reaches 51%. Defense counsel and insurance carriers will hunt for percentage points — every point is money. We build the case to minimize fault-shifting and to neutralize comparative-fault arguments before they take hold.

What damages can a Texas family recover in a mass-casualty wrongful-death case?

Pecuniary loss (earnings and household services), loss of companionship and society, mental anguish, loss of parental guidance for minor children, and — where the deceased survived the attack for any period — a separate survival-action recovery for pre-death pain and suffering, medical bills, and lost wages under § 74.001. Punitive damages are available under § 41.008 upon clear-and-convincing evidence of malice or gross negligence. Texas has no general cap on wrongful-death non-economic damages.

Who pays a judgment in a mass-casualty case?

Typically the private-defendant venue or promoter’s commercial general liability carrier, subject to policy limits (commonly $5 million to $50 million per occurrence). If the event is federally certified as an act of terrorism, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) provides a federal backstop above a retention. The carrier, not the venue, is the entity that will actually write the check — and the carrier deploys the same playbook we have seen in every other case: recorded statements, quick settlements with releases, comparative-fault shifting, and delay.

How long does a mass-casualty case take?

The federal criminal case typically takes 18 to 36 months. The civil case is usually stayed during the criminal prosecution. Once the stay lifts, civil discovery begins, and the case typically resolves in 12 to 36 additional months — either through settlement or trial. Total timeline: roughly three to six years from the date of the event. We tell families the truth about this timeline so they can plan.

What should we do in the first 72 hours after a mass-casualty event?

Medical and law-enforcement cooperation first. Preserve your loved one’s phone and personal devices untouched. Do not speak with the venue’s insurer or claims representative. Do not post about the event on social media. Do not sign any release or statement authorization. Call an experienced Texas wrongful-death and premises-liability attorney. We send preservation letters to the venue, the promoter, the security contractor, and any third-party vendors the day you retain us — before any of that evidence can be overwritten or lost.

Is there a cap on damages in a Texas wrongful-death case?

No general cap. The 2003 constitutional amendment and subsequent case law permit full recovery of wrongful-death non-economic damages. Medical-malpractice pain-and-suffering caps under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 74.301 do not apply to ordinary wrongful-death cases. The practical limit is what a jury finds fair, supported by the proof.

Can a family recover from a venue that complied with industry security standards?

Possibly. Industry-standard compliance is evidence — not a shield. A jury can still find that the standard itself was inadequate for the threat, that the venue knew of specific risks it failed to address, or that the venue’s execution of its own plan was negligent. NFPA 3000 (Active Shooter / Hostile Event Response) and counter-drone standards are the kind of evidence we develop in discovery. Compliance narrows the case; it does not eliminate it.

What if the attacker is never identified or is killed during the attack?

The civil case proceeds against the private defendants — venue, promoter, security contractor, vendors — exactly the same way. The attacker does not need to be convicted, identified, or even prosecuted for the family to pursue a wrongful-death claim under Texas law. Many mass-casualty defendants are deceased or unidentified at the time of the event, and the civil case still moves forward.

What if my family is not in Texas but the event was at a Texas venue?

Texas venue law under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 15.014 generally allows suit where the injury occurred in Texas. Out-of-state family members can be real parties in interest through Texas counsel. We coordinate with home-state counsel where appropriate.

The Call We Hope You Never Have to Make — But We Are Ready When You Do

The news this week will move on. The next news cycle will replace it. The federal prosecution of the five alleged conspirators will play out over years in the District of Columbia federal court. Most Texas families will read the headlines, feel the fear, and move on.

But some Texas families will be at the next event. Some Texas parents will drop their kids at the next concert, the next rodeo, the next college football game, the next UFC fight — and trust that the venue, the promoter, and the security contractor have done the work. Most of the time, that trust is justified.

Sometimes it is not.

When it is not, the law is on your side — but only if you understand it, preserve the evidence, and retain counsel before the insurer’s playbook starts. The consultation is free. There is no fee unless we win. We serve you in English and in Spanish. Hablamos Español. Call 1-888-ATTY-911 any time, day or night, and we will walk you through what the law actually says and what your family can actually do. Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes. But the work we do — the preservation letters, the discovery fights, the depositions, the trial preparation — is the work that turns tragedy into accountability.

You do not have to face it alone. Reach out to our team and let us carry the legal weight while you carry what cannot be carried for you.

This page is legal information about Texas civil remedies and federal criminal-law context. It is not legal advice for a specific case. For advice about your situation, contact a licensed Texas attorney. The information above is current as of publication and may not reflect subsequent statutory or case-law changes.