They basically surrounded the he
when police trashed your
property. The damage to
the home was extensive.
In the name of the law, they usd
approximately 30 tear gas canis.
Who pays the bill? They used a.
Small bomb on my garage door and they
blew that off.
WA has been asking that questio.
As we shine a light on
sovereign immunity in Texas,
we found that for a number
of property owners,
the answer when police
do something like this,
they're often left holding the .
They said, I'm sorry,
we did not pay for active government.
That's what Vicki Baker's insure
told her when McKinney police
raided her home in July 2020,
causing extensive damage.
Personally, I think it was close to 70,000,
the department subduing a suspet
who had barricaded himself in Baker's
home while she was in Montana.
After the dust settled,
she was left covering 2/3 of the damage,
roughly.
I don't know how they've been getting
away with it all of these years,
but Baker found
a way through the courts,
unlike so many others we've spoken with.
What happened to us is a third
World insurance company said it
was an act of the government.
But I would not pay for it close to a
quarter million and that includes business
interruption and is on the path
right now to being made whole.
I believe we won.
Because God is on our side.
Alright, so let's talk
about sovereign immunity.
It's a phrase from medieval tims
meaning the king can do no wron.
And sometimes it's called qualified immunity.
Either way, all you need to know in Texas,
it is a thing. The state,
a city or a Police Department ct
be sued successfully in our cous
without the legislature's conse.
So people who have had their
homes or their property trashed
in the name of the law,
like Baker here,
struggle to get fully compensatd
because sovereign immunity. It's
there. The real strategy here wo
pretty much sidestep immunity entirely.
Inter. Jeffrey Redfern from the
Institute for Justice in Virgin.
He's Baker's attorney and
sued the city of McKinney in
federal court for damages.
But instead of challenging
sovereign immunity,
our whole theory here is
that this this is a taking.
Just like eminent domain,
he argued, McKinney owes Baker
money through eminent domain.
You've probably heard that phrase before.
Governments and private
companies commonly use it.
To acquire or use someone's lanr
property for the betterment of the public,
as long as the landowner or
property owner is compensated.
So Redfern told the judge the city had
a legal right to quote take Baks
home during the raid for public,
but that she should be compensad
fairly under the Fifth Amendmen.
And it worked.
Courts have said look when when the issue
is the government took your proy
intentionally for some public u.
The Constitution says what happ.
It says that you get just compensation.
In the summer of last year,
a federal jury awarded Baker almost 60 grand.
The city of McKinney is appeali,
and now the US Court of
Appeals for the 5th Circuit is
getting ready to hear the case.
What they decide could be big
for taxpayers who find themselvs
in a situation like bakers.
It might even be a blueprint for
other attorneys to follow the
city of McKinney not commenting
to us due to the appeal.
Whether it's this case or some other case,
I do think this issue is going
to end up in the Supreme
Court in the next few years.
But if you ask Baker,
so if they've got the money,
it's what I'm saying because thy
are fighting with that money.
This all could have been avoide.
The time in court, the attorneys fees.
If the city she says just did
the right thing from the get go,
why not give that money to
individuals that they've harmed?
In McKinney, I'm Matt Howerton.