Judge revives judgment worth $1.8 million against Cullen Davis

A state district judge on Friday revived a judgment worth $1.8 million against Cullen Davis, the former millionaire accused of being the notorious “man in black” who gunned down two people in his Fort Worth mansion 40 years ago.

State District Judge John Chupp signed a two-page summary judgment agreed to by attorneys for Davis and the children of slaying victim Stan Farr the day before. The judge’s order is seen largely as an administrative action, and it is now up to the Farrs to collect on a debt that has been out there more than 25 years.

“It is an administrative thing. It’s the process you use for collecting money from anybody,” said Michael Weston, the Dallas attorney representing Jon and Heather Farr. “It’s not anything different from any other collection case. It just happens to be who we are dealing with.”

Jon Farr, who now lives in the Kansas City area, said they only want Davis to honor his promises.

“Cullen made this commitment to pay us this money 26 years ago and we hope at some point in time he’ll do the right thing,” Farr said.

Kevin Buchanan, the attorney representing Davis, could not immediately be reached for comment Friday. In previous court documents, Davis’ attorneys denied the allegations made in the lawsuit.

Stan Farr was a former TCU basketball player and the live-in boyfriend of Davis’ ex-wife, Priscilla. He was killed along with Davis’ 12-year-old stepdaughter at the Davis mansion in Fort Worth on Aug. 2, 1976, by a mysterious “man in black.”

Davis was acquitted of capital murder in the girl’s slaying and of murder-for-hire charges in connection with his divorce case in the 1970s. At the time, he was the richest man in America to be tried on a murder charge.

Davis originally agreed to pay the Farrs in a settlement he reached with their mother, Karen, in federal court in February 1990. At the time, both children were minors: Jon Farr was 17, and Heather 16. Davis agreed to pay them $125,000 each.

Three years later, the agreement was amended in an attempt to recover some, if not all, of the money. Davis was supposed to have paid by 1997.

By 2002, Davis still had not paid and the Farrs returned to state District Court. At the time, Davis’ attorneys argued that they waited too long to collect. Almost a year later, the judge ruled in favor of the Farrs and declared the judgment valid and enforceable.

In an amended petition filed by the Farrs’ attorneys in January, it calculated that with interest earned on the original 1990 agreement, Davis will owe the family $1,844,641.94 by Feb. 15.

In some ways, the order signed by Chupp is a “nonevent,” said David Keltner, an attorney at Kelly Hart in Fort Worth. Periodically, plaintiffs have to return to court to keep a judgment active.

Collecting on the judgment can also take time, depending on what motions are filed, he said. For example, Davis has 30 days to file a motion for a new trial or an appeal.

In the meantime, the Farrs can seek other relief to look at Davis’ assets but their attorneys have to jump through a number of legal hoops to do so, he said. The Farrs filed a court document this week seeking a higher level of discovery to probe more into Davis’ assets.

As in any civil case, the two sides could also sit down and work out a deal, he said.

“It is difficult,” Keltner said. “You’ve got to jump through all kinds of hurdles.”

In Facebook postings in August, Jon Farr said that he has forgiven Davis and moved on with his life but that Davis agreed to pay this money to avoid having to defend himself again in civil court.

This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 12:01 PM with the headline "Judge revives judgment worth $1.8 million against Cullen Davis."