Federal Court Awards $230 Million Against U.S. Air Force for Sutherland Springs Church Shooting

On November 5, 2017, Devin Patrick Kelley walked into First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and opened fire. He killed 26 people and wounded 22 more in what remains the deadliest mass shooting in Texas history. Kelley had a prior domestic assault conviction from his time in the Air Force. Under federal law, that conviction should have barred him from buying firearms. The Air Force never reported it.

Federal regulations required the Air Force to submit Kelley's conviction records to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). A 2014 Inspector General report had already found that 'Air Force Security Forces failed to submit fingerprint cards and final disposition reports in 60 percent of cases.' Despite that internal warning, the reporting failure continued. Kelley walked into a licensed dealer, passed a background check, and bought the rifle he used at the church.

More than 80 survivors and family members of victims filed suit against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Jamal Alsaffar and Tom Jacob of what was then Whitehurst, Harkness, Brees, Cheng, Alsaffar, Higginbotham & Jacob -- now National Trial Law -- served as lead plaintiffs' counsel. The case required two trials: a liability phase and a damages phase before U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez in the Western District of Texas.

On the liability question, Judge Rodriguez found the government had assumed a legal duty by creating NICS reporting regulations, then breached that duty by failing to follow them. He assigned the United States 60 percent of the fault for the attack. In February 2022, after a 185-page damages opinion examining each plaintiff's losses individually, he entered judgment for more than $230 million. Individual awards ranged from $3,000 for property damage to over $18 million for catastrophic physical and psychological injuries.

The Justice Department appealed. In April 2023, after more than five years of litigation, the government agreed to settle all claims for $144.5 million and dropped its appeal. That figure exceeded the $127 million paid to Parkland survivors and the $88 million paid to Charleston church shooting families. Alsaffar noted the case also spurred federal legislation requiring the military to fix its criminal-record reporting system. The damages judgment, at $230 million, was at the time the largest FTCA verdict in U.S. history.