Randall Kallinen

A $1.915 Million Federal Tort Judgment

Ulises Valladares was a kidnapping victim — bound in his own home — when a federal rescue operation in January 2018 ended with an agent's shot killing him. Kallinen carried his family's case through a constitutional appeal, forensic development, and a Federal Tort Claims Act bench trial.

Kallinen pursued a negligence claim against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The Fifth Circuit recognized that intentional constitutional seizure and negligent tactical conduct are distinct inquiries, keeping the federal tort route intact and preserving a judicial determination under Texas negligence law.

He developed the case through scene measurements, photographs, ballistics, tactical assignments, witness testimony, and the condition of the glass at the scene. Judge Kenneth Hoyt heard evidence over three days in October 2024. On March 3, 2025, the court found negligence and gross negligence, rejected the agents' account that Valladares had reached for a rifle or threatened them, and assigned sole causation to the shot.

Valladares's mother received $103,500 for lost financial support, $500,000 for pecuniary loss and mental anguish, and $7,500 for funeral and travel expenses. His son received $654,000 for lost support, $150,000 for lost inheritance, and $500,000 for parental services, care, consortium, and mental anguish. The compensatory judgment totaled $1.915 million, and the court separately approved $475,000 in attorney fees under the Federal Tort Claims Act's statutory limit. The United States appealed in May 2025, and Kallinen appears as lead counsel for Garcia and Valladares Jr. as the Fifth Circuit considers the government's challenge. The district court's detailed findings remain the operative judgment.

Jose Gomez: Trial and Final Resolution

Kallinen, Alexander Johnson, and Mike DeGeurin Sr. tried Jose Gomez's excessive-force and assault claims for eight days. Body-camera recordings established the timing of commands, movement, force, and control, and jurors used those recordings to decide what each movement meant under the Fourth Amendment and Texas assault law.

In July 2021, the jury assigned sixty-five percent responsibility to Officer Jacob Simmerman and thirty-five percent to Officer Christopher Heaven. It awarded $537,500 for the constitutional violation and $537,500 for assault, producing a $1.075 million verdict. Appellate mediation then produced a final $450,000 settlement approved by Houston City Council in November 2022, resolving the judgment and the competing appeal.

Failure to Intervene at the Jail

Kallinen represented Akrem Azzam in a case testing whether a Houston civilian jailer had a realistic opportunity and constitutional duty to intervene in force used inside a city-jail cell. Surveillance video allowed the jury to assess awareness, time, ability to act, and the steps available to prevent continuation.

A federal jury found that the nearby jailer failed to intervene and awarded $105,000. Houston later approved a $100,000 settlement resolving the incident-related claims.

Fred Harris and Jail Classification

Kallinen represented Fred Harris's mother, Dallas Garcia, in a civil-rights action concerning jail classification, disability accommodation, monitoring, staffing, cell assignment, and supervision.

Jail classification uses available information to determine physical separation. Size, disability, behavior, prior violence, threats, charges, mental health, and staffing determine who shares a cell and who receives closer observation. Harris County approved a $1.25 million settlement in November 2025, and the agreement became public in February 2026.

The Pledge Opt-Out Case

Kallinen and American Atheists counsel represented Mari Oliver in a First Amendment matter concerning a valid parental opt-out from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and a later classroom transcription assignment.

Texas Education Code section 25.082 permits a parent to excuse a student from reciting the Pledge, and that statutory option worked alongside the constitutional rule against compelled patriotic speech. Oliver's claim concerned whether a teacher could use grades, assignments, or classroom authority to compel patriotic expression after a valid parental opt-out. Her decision to remain seated and the compulsory transcription assignment presented separate First Amendment issues.

The district court found factual disputes over whether the assignment served a genuine instructional purpose or compelled patriotic expression. In 2021, the Fifth Circuit dismissed the teacher's interlocutory appeal because those factual disputes belonged at trial, preserving Oliver's claim. The matter later settled for $90,000.

Texas Public Information Act Precedent

Kallinen brought a mandamus action seeking City of Houston records concerning a red-light-camera study. The Texas Supreme Court held in 2015 that a requester need not await an Attorney General ruling before asking a court to compel disclosure.

The court held that the Attorney General process constrains the governmental body and is not an administrative remedy the requester controls or must exhaust. On remand, the First Court of Appeals affirmed the disclosure judgment and the $92,176 attorney-fee award, confirming that courts retain jurisdiction when a governmental body withholds information that state law makes public.

Kallinen had substantially prevailed under the Texas Public Information Act, and the ruling assigned distinct roles to the Attorney General and the courts: a governmental body may request an Attorney General decision about withholding information, but that process cannot suspend a requester's statutory right to seek mandamus. Judicial review remains available to test the claimed exception, order disclosure, and award fees.

Advocate and Artist

Kallinen's practice concentrates on federal civil-rights litigation — police misconduct, First Amendment, wrongful death, and open government — and he has handled hundreds of such matters across three decades at the bar. Away from the courthouse he is a working artist, with a gallery and large-scale artworks on Houston's east side.