Randallstown High School shooting victim awarded $21M in damages

A Baltimore man who was paralyzed from the waist down in a shooting that followed a 2004 charity basketball game at Randallstown High School has been awarded more than $21 million in a civil lawsuit against the shooter and his accomplice.

William “Tippa” Thomas III does not expect to see any of the money, according to his lawyer, but Monday’s verdict will allow him to appeal an earlier decision in the case that threw out his case against Baltimore County, two of its police officers and its school board.

Howard J. Needle, Thomas’ lawyer, says he plans to file the appeal soon.

“It’s frustrating to go through this, but we needed to in order to get to the appeal,” said the Pikesville solo, who practices as Howard J. Needle P.C.

Thomas’ original lawsuit, filed in December 2008, sought $140 million from all of the defendants, including the shooter, Matthew McCullough, and his accomplice, Tyrone D. Brown, who are serving 100- and 50-year prison terms, respectively.

McCullough and Brown were not in Baltimore County Circuit Court before Judge Kathleen G. Cox, having declined to appear in an earlier hearing, according to Needle.

Cox’s verdict Monday included $10 million in punitive damages from each of the defendants and $325,000 in noneconomic damages — the maximum allowed under the state’s cap, Needle said.

Thomas was awarded more than $1 million in economic damages, while his mother, Edna Payton Henderson, was awarded $73,000, said Needle.

Thomas, then a senior, and three other people were injured when shots were fired into a crowd leaving the game on May 7, 2004. McCullough and Brown were convicted that November.

McCullough, a classmate of Thomas’, had been sent home from the high school earlier that week after an argument in the cafeteria. He returned to the school hours before the shooting; Baltimore County police officers, known as school resource officers, searched McCullough and his car and found nothing. McCullough’s brother told the resource officers he would take Matthew home and that he would not return.

The officers went off-duty after the encounter. McCullough returned to school again following the basketball game.

School administrators decided police were not needed for the basketball game because they had never been required before and about two dozen staff members would be attending the game.

Cox, in a 2010 ruling, said the county and the police officers were not liable because they had not entered a “special relationship” with Thomas to protect him from McCullough. In a separate 2010 ruling, Cox said the Baltimore County Board of Education was not liable because administrators were not on notice that additional security would be needed for the basketball game.

J. Michael Sloneker, the school board’s lawyer, called Cox’s ruling “well-considered.”

“Fundamentally, it starts with, ‘Is there a duty and was there a breach of that duty?’” said Sloneker, a partner at Anderson, Coe & King LLP in Baltimore. “And if there was, did that breach cause the injury? In order to have a duty, something has to be foreseeable.”

Ellen Kobler, a spokeswoman for Baltimore County, declined to comment because the litigation is pending.

Thomas graduated with his class several weeks after the shooting. He went on to receive an electrical engineering degree from Morgan State University and now works at Northrop Grumman Corp., according to Needle.

Thomas has put the incident behind him and “doesn’t have hatred for the shooters,” Needle said.

Following Monday’s verdict, Thomas told Needle, “I’m going back to work.”

“He’s just got a good head on his shoulders,” Needle said.

Daily Record reporter Jason Ruiter contributed to this article.

PAYTON HENDERSON, ET AL V. EVANS, ET AL
Court: Baltimore County Circuit Court
Case No: 03C08012990
Judge: Kathleen G. Cox

Outcome: Plaintiff’s verdict ($21,482,170)

Dates:
Event: May 7, 2004
Suit filed: Dec. 4, 2008
Trial: July 15, 2013
Verdict: July 15, 2013

Plaintiff’s attorneys:
Howard J. Needle, solo practitioner
Defense attorneys:
None

Counts:
Negligence; battery