Texas Attorney Sued For $40 Million By Texas Tech Student in Defamation Lawsuit

A Texas Tech student is suing prominent civil rights and personal injury lawyer, Houston-based Ben Crump, for defamation. In the suit, former Amarillo resident, Katie Quackenbush, contends that a tweet made by Crump in regards to the outcome of her jury trial earlier in the month is defamatory and injurious to her person.

In 2017 Quackenbush while in Nashville shot Gerald Melton, a homeless man after the two engaged in an argument. She was ultimately found guilty by a Nashville jury on charges of reckless endangerment. She was sentenced to 11 months and 29 days of unsupervised probation, according to media reports.

Crump, who has served the families such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor made a tweet on Tuesday, November 8th expressing disappointment over the outcome of the trial. According to documents filed in the 99th District Court of Lubbock, a tweet posted by Crump expressed dismay that Quackenbush had received “less than a year of unsupervised probation— for cold-blooded murder.”

The court document filed by Quackenbush's representatives accuses Crump of maliciously spreading false information and slander. The suit describes Crump's comments as "racially motivated hate speech against whites in general, made solely for the purpose of self promotion and financial gain".

The suit alleges that Crump's remarks have caused the 32-year-old to be "exposed to public hatred, contempt, and financial injury" and to have "suffered injury to her reputation and good character".

Quackenbush seeks to recover damages of $40 million, as per court documents.