Texas woman, 81, awarded $60K after 5-year fight against ‘sovereign immunity' — what it could mean for others
A federal judge has ordered the city of McKinney to pay almost $60,000 plus interest to 81-year-old Vicki Baker.
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Why the big payday? Baker's home was torn apart by a SWAT team during a 2020 police standoff.
Baker took the city to court after her house became the battleground for a high-stakes manhunt, reported WFAA. McKinney police unleashed tear gas, explosives, and tactical vehicles on the property while chasing a fugitive who had barricaded himself inside.
Insurance plans do not cover 'acts of the government' and the city refused to pay for the damage, so Vicki joined forces with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to file a lawsuit in March 2021.
'I've just learned that my battle with the city of McKinney is coming to an end,' Baker said in a statement on June 5. 'Judge Mazzant has, once again, ruled that I am due just compensation under the Texas Constitution.'
According to the WFAA report, it all started on July 25, 2020, when Wesley Little, a man Baker had hired for repairs, broke into her home and held a teenager hostage. Baker was in Montana, but her daughter, who was living at the property, escaped and called 911.
After Little released the teen but refused to surrender, a SWAT team fired roughly 30 tear gas canisters shattering windows, smashed doors, and tore down a fence with an armored vehicle. Once inside they found Little had died by suicide.
The incident left more than $50,000 in damage to the house, according to Baker, with her insurance covering only the destruction caused by Little, not the police's tactical incursion.
The city of McKinney initially refused to pay, citing sovereign immunity, a legal shield that often protects cities from liability unless waived or overturned by a judge.
Baker, a cancer survivor who had recently invested $25,000 to ready her home for sale, didn't back down. 'It was more devastating because of everything that was happening to me at the time,' she said. 'I felt like this was a case that would help not just me, but a lot of people. That's why I wanted to fight.'
With legal help from the Institute for Justice, Baker argued that the government's destruction amounted to an uncompensated taking of her property under both the U.S. and Texas Constitutions.
'It took five years, but Vicki is finally going to be made whole,' said Jeffrey Redfern, senior attorney at the Institute for Justice. 'She's fortunate that Texas has strong protections for private property rights, but people in much of the rest of the country aren't so lucky.'
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There were many setbacks, including losing at the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court declining to hear the case, but a favorable ruling grounded in the Texas Constitution was ultimately handed down by U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant this month.
WFAA has covered similar cases in Texas since 2020, highlighting the ongoing legal battle over police damage during raids, with cities repeatedly invoking sovereign immunity. Michael Lamson, a Houston trial lawyer, said to WFAA, "If you're taking their property and you're not paying them for it, you're doing a very good job as a government."
Redfern reportedly pointed in court to a 1980 Texas Supreme Court ruling in Steele v. City of Houston, where the city was held liable after police allowed a home to burn following tear gas explosions, as a crucial precedent.
McKinney officials stated they are 'evaluating options for appealing' the ruling.
As for Baker, now living in Montana, she says the city's legal fees ended up being more than what it owed her. 'They have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees,' she said. 'And they could have gotten off with paying me $60,000.'
In Texas and other states, sovereign immunity protects state agencies, counties, and cities. Sovereign immunity is meant to shield public agencies from endless lawsuits that could drain taxpayer dollars and gum up government operations. Unfortunately, this means when a homeowner sues a city for damage caused during police raids or other government actions, city governments can pull out the sovereign immunity card.
The may ways this can hurt homeowners include: Limited legal recourse: Most can't sue cities for property damage unless there's a rare exception. Financial strain: Repairs from police or government damage can run tens of thousands of dollars. Legal fights: Challenging sovereign immunity is complex and expensive, and can be lengthy. Unfair burden: Citizens pay the price, while cities walk away free and clear.
The Institute for Justice is taking on similar cases in California, Indiana and North Carolina awaits a U.S. Supreme Court decision in Martin v. United States, involving an FBI SWAT raid that damaged another family's home.
For now, Baker's victory could become a powerful blueprint for others fighting back against government damage.
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