Hearing on order to protect Cooper residents’ property ends without ruling
The hearing on an injunction that would prevent the destruction of items still inside units at The Cooper, the Fort Worth apartment complex where more than 800 residents were displaced after a six-alarm fire June 23, ended Wednesday without a final ruling.
Tarrant County 48th District Court Judge Chris Taylor said he’s considering the arguments presented by both sides and hopes to issue a decision before the end of this week.
Multiple residents of Building 1 who are plaintiffs in a lawsuit testified Tuesday on the first day of the hearing. They told of irreplaceable items — immigration paperwork, military uniforms and gifts from late parents — that were left in the apartments. The tenants believe many of these things are still intact and asked for the court’s help to protect their cherished possessions until they can be retrieved.
Several of the residents lived in apartments that were listed in a June 27 structural engineer’s report as being safe for temporary access, according to attorney Katie Steele. On June 30 they were given the chance to retrieve essential items like wallets and medication. Steele said they were under the impression they would be given another opportunity to get more things out later, but that never materialized.
James Miles, the project manager for the company in charge of fire remediation at the complex, told the court Tuesday that a lot has changed since the June 27 report. Conditions in Building 1, where the fire started on the roof and where eight units collapsed, continue to deteriorate. CAMP Facility Services discovered movement in the building, Miles said, and there’s concern another collapse could occur that would have a domino effect.
David Twist and Samuel Russell said Tuesday that they received emails July 31 indicating their possessions were a total loss and would be taken out for them and destroyed. Russell responded with an email saying he just wanted his U.S. Navy uniforms and the things from his late mother, but all he got was a ChatGPT response. He decided to take legal action.
“I don’t want someone to die to get my stuff back, but according to the email, my apartment is accessible,” Russell said.
Others residents received an email Aug. 2 stating that their unit was under review and they might be able to retrieve their possessions at some point in the future.
Roger Diseker, the attorney for The Cooper Fort Worth LLC and the property’s owner Lightbulb Capital Group, told the court that an injunction to prevent destruction or demolition of property would do more harm than good and keep CAMP’s remediation efforts from moving forward. He said if work on the building is delayed and the structure collapses, it will mean a $40 million loss for the owners.
“We’re already doing everything the tenants are asking for except allowing them in their units,” Diseker said. He pointed to security measures that have been added in recent weeks to prevent burglary, like a 6-foot chain link fence around the complex and round-the-clock security guards. According to Diseker, the owners are doing their best to save the building so residents can get their possessions out when it is safe to do so.
“We need a little bit more assurance,” Steele said of the residents’ desire for an injunction.
She told the judge that her clients were alarmed by the July 31 email saying their belongings would be destroyed, and they felt that taking legal action was their only recourse.
According to Miles, the next step in the remediation process is shoring up the building. Attorney Ty Stimpson said the tenants aren’t trying to stop that from happening. They just want the opportunity to get their personal things out after the shoring is complete and an engineer deems the building is safe to enter.
Building 2 received primarily water and smoke damage in the fire, and tenants have already been able to move their possessions out.
