Texarkana Aluminum Denies Family’s Claims in Workplace Shooting Lawsuit
TEXARKANA, Texas–Texarkana Aluminum and its corporate owner have denied nearly every allegation in a lawsuit brought by the family of a man shot and killed in May on the company’s campus in Nash, Texas, and are pointing to the convicted murderer who pulled the trigger as the sole cause of his death.
Eddie Ray Hill Jr., 48, was killed by Wendell Lane Champion Jr., 40, in the Texarkana Aluminum parking lot shortly after Hill arrived at work on May 12. Wendell Champion made it into the enclosed employee parking area where he confronted his wife, Candis Jolene Champion, a supervisor at the plant, and held her at gunpoint, according to the lawsuit filed by Hill’s wife, mother, children and estate.
TCI Texarkana Inc., doing business as Texarkana Aluminum, and Ta Chen International Inc. filed a 13-page amended answer Sept. 4 in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas, court records show. The filing replaces the one-page answer the companies submitted when they removed the case from Bowie County to federal court earlier this month.
The companies admit that Wendell Champion “confronted Candis Champion and escorted her to her vehicle,” and that Hill “was arriving for work when he exited his vehicle and approached Wendell Lane Champion, Jr. who shot him in the head resulting in his death,” the answer states.
They also admit that Texarkana Aluminum “employed a Chief Security Officer and maintained security cameras at the facility that recorded and captured the events that are the subject of this lawsuit,” and that court records show Wendell Champion “had previously been convicted of murder and released from prison.”
The companies deny the rest. That includes the family’s allegations that security at the facility broke down, that Candis Champion knew her husband posed a foreseeable danger if he showed up at the workplace, and that the company had time to warn arriving employees and call police as the confrontation unfolded.
The defendants deny all six counts in the lawsuit, including gross negligence, premises liability and negligent undertaking.
Among the defenses raised, the companies argue that “because Plaintiffs’ claims result from the criminal acts of third parties, Plaintiffs’ claims are limited to a premises liability claim,” the answer states.
They further allege that “other third parties over which Defendants had no control, including, but not limited to, Wendell Lane Champion, Jr., were guilty of certain acts and/or omissions, which solely caused or, alternatively, were a proximate cause of the Decedent’s death.”
The companies are asking that a jury be allowed to assign a percentage of responsibility to the plaintiffs, each defendant and any responsible third party under Texas law, and they reserved the right to name additional responsible third parties as the case moves forward.
The answer also invokes Texas caps on punitive damages and states the family must prove any claim for exemplary damages by clear and convincing evidence. The companies ask that the Hill family take nothing from the suit and that the defendants be awarded their costs.
Hill was allegedly attempting to help Candis Champion when he was fatally shot. After killing Hill, Wendell Champion shot and wounded Candis Champion before turning the gun on himself and ending his life.
Wendell Champion pleaded guilty in 2010 to first-degree murder in Harris County, Texas, and accepted a sentence of 30 years. He was released on parole in 2025.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder III and referred to U.S. Magistrate Judge James Boone Baxter.
The family is represented by Nuru Lateef Witherspoon of the Witherspoon Law Group PLLC. TCI Texarkana Inc., doing business as Texarkana Aluminum, and Ta Chen International Inc. are represented by Jeffrey Dwayne Smith of Fletcher Farley Shipman & Salinas LLP.