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Richardson ISD approves contingency-fee legal agreement to consider joining social-media litigation
Summary
Trustees voted 6-0 to adopt a resolution and a contingent-fee legal services agreement to enable the district to seek recovery from social-media companies for costs tied to student behavior and mental-health impacts; the agreement must first be approved by the Texas attorney general.
The Richardson ISD Board of Trustees approved a resolution and a contingent-fee legal services agreement that would allow the district to seek to join multi-district litigation against social-media companies. The board voted unanimously, 6-0, to adopt the resolution and then to approve the agreement, both of which require review and approval by the Texas attorney general before any legal work can begin.
Leticia McGowan, acting as board legal counsel, told trustees that contingent-fee agreements are commonly used in class-action and personal-injury litigation and stressed how the arrangement would work for the district: “If we do not win, we do not have to pull money from general funds or anywhere else to cover the cost,” she said. Under the agreement described to the board, the selected law firms would be paid from any recovery obtained, not from district operating funds, if the litigation is successful.
District representatives told trustees the claims being considered would focus on public-nuisance and negligence theories, arguing that certain social-media platforms are designed to be highly addictive while children are in critical developmental stages. Legal counsel said the goal of such litigation would be to recover district costs associated with staffing, interventions and other expenses the district attributes to harms caused by those platforms.
The proposed agreement names Thompson & Horton LLP, Island & Bonin PC, and O'Hanlon, DeMarath & Castillo PC. Board members were told the Texas attorney general’s office must review any contingent-fee arrangement submitted by a governmental body; by statute the AG has 90 days to act on a packet. Board members noted other Texas districts that have already submitted similar packets and that at least one, Conroe ISD, had obtained AG approval prior to this meeting.
Trustees voted to adopt the resolution and then the agreement; both actions carried 6-0. Legal staff will prepare the submission for the attorney general and return to the board with the AG decision.
