Recently, a Dallas jury found Charter Spectrum (herein Spectrum), the cable company, liable in connection with the 2019 murder of Spectrum customer Betty Thomas. The case is William Goff et al. v. Roy James Holden, Jr. and Charter Communications, Cause No. CC-20-01579.

Roy Holden performed a service call to the home of Betty Thomas the day before her Dec, 2019 murder. Although Spectrum contended that Holden had the following day off of work, somehow Holden discovered that Ms. Thomas had reported that she was still having trouble with her service. Holden, while wearing his company uniform, used his company key card to enter a Spectrum secured vehicle lot, and drove his Spectrum van to the Thomas home where he gained entry under the guise of fixing the fax machine. While inside, Ms. Thomas caught Holden stealing credit cards from her purse. Holden then brutally stabbed the 83-year-old with a company-issued utility knife and went on a spending spree with her stolen credit cards. Holden is currently serving a life sentence for the murder.

Trial testimony revealed that Spectrum hired Holden without verifying his employment history, which would have revealed that he was dishonest about his work history. Further, in the weeks prior to the murder and robbery, Spectrum supervisors ignored a series of red flags, including Holden's own written pleas to upper management for help due to severe distress over financial and family problems. Spectrum employees admitted at trial that there was a pattern of more than 2,500 thefts in the previous few years by Spectrum employees against customers, which the company refused to investigate or report to police. Jurors agreed that Spectrum's actions were the "proximate cause" of Ms. Thomas' death, finding the company 90% liable and Holden 10% liable.