DMN Blog: Cowboys Bubble collapse update: Legal filings begin

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Cowboys collapse update: Legal filings begin
4:36 PM Tue, Jul 07, 2009 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
Rob Stroope/Editor E-mail | News tips


Litigation over the Dallas Cowboys' practice facility collapse is about to begin.

Rich Behm, the most seriously injured victim, has hired high-profile Dallas lawyer Frank Branson.

Cowboys collapse update: Legal filings begin
4:12 PM Tue, Jul 07, 2009 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
Brooks Egerton/Reporter Bio | E-mail | News tips
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Litigation over the Dallas Cowboys practice facility collapse is about to begin.

Rich Behm (right), the most seriously injured victim, has hired high-profile Dallas lawyer Frank Branson. Branson, in turn, asked a Dallas County court late last month to order a pre-litigation deposition of Nathan Stobbe, president of facility builder Summit Structures and its parent, Cover-All Building Systems.

Court records show that the attorney also asked for all of the Canada-based company's documents related to the tent-like facility, which came crashing down during a thunderstorm May 2.

Judge Sally Montgomery has taken no action on the petition, and no lawsuit has been filed. But Branson told me today that Stobbe had already submitted to questioning voluntarily. Branson said he had received some documents, too.

"The defendants at this time seem to be cooperating," he said. "I'd like to get this case up and running as smoothly as possible for everybody's sake."

Branson declined to discuss what Stobbe said in the deposition. Nor would he release any documents.

Stobbe's spokeswoman in Dallas, Laurey Peat, had no immediate comment today.

Branson made it clear that he does not plan to sue -- and indeed cannot sue -- the Cowboys. He said that's because Behm is covered by workers' compensation, which "is a total and complete bar to any suit" against the team.

The Cowboys knew when they hired Stobbe's firm that another big tent it built had recently collapsed in Philadelphia, shortly after opening.

A lawsuit in that case exposed major engineering errors and other problems with the builder.
 
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