© 2012 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
A well-respected young Dallas corporate lawyer who played a significant role in the $1.3 billion initial public offering by MetroPCS in 2007 was brutally attacked early Friday morning in the lower Greenville area of Dallas and remains in a medically induced coma.
Damien Falgoust, a 39-year-old transactional lawyer, was found beaten and in critical condition about 2 a.m. at 1914 Greenville Ave. near Ross Ave. after an evening at Knox Street Pub with teammates from his kickball league. Family members and friends say he also may have been celebrating the possibility of a new job, which had interviewed for earlier in the day.
The Dallas Police detective leading the investigation didn’t return phone calls, but family and friends say that the tragic assault is a mystery. They ask that anyone who may have witnessed the attack or who may have knowledge of the attack to call the police.
Falgoust, a 1999 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law and a 1995 alum of Baylor University, was corporate counsel and assistant secretary at Richardson-based MetroPCS from 2005 to 2010. In 2010, he joined the Dallas office of FisherBroyles as a partner.
“Damien is an extremely nice guy and was always very respectful of outside counsel,” said Bill Howell, a partner at Baker Botts in Dallas who worked with Falgoust on the MetroPCS IPO. “He always demonstrated a great attention to detail.”
Relatives and friends say that Falgoust, a kickball enthusiast, took a taxi from the bar, but may have cut his fare short to grab a slice of pizza in the neighborhood and walk the rest of the way home.
The attack took place only a few blocks from his home. Police told family members that the motive for the assault was not robbery, as Falgoust still had his cell phone, wallet, money and credit cards with him when the ambulance arrived.
Ashley Falgoust, Damien’s sister, said she is dumbfounded as to why anyone would attack her brother.
“He doesn’t have any enemies; he’s a nice person,” she said. “He likes to get into political debates but I can’t imagine anyone getting so mad over [that].”
Ashley Falgoust said it is unclear at this time who called 9-1-1, but she speculates that her brother may have made the call because he was still conscious when he arrived at 2:30 a.m. at the emergency room of the Baylor University Medical Center of Dallas, where he is now in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
Falgousts’ sister and parents, who both live in Houston, received a call from a Baylor Medical Center ER physician with the news at 8:30 Friday morning and immediately drove to Dallas. When Ashley arrived at the hospital, the doctors informed her that her brother was conscious when he arrived at the emergency room but had to be intubated because his CT scan revealed severe bleeding in his brain.
Falgoust remains in an induced coma but has periodically regained consciousness since Friday.
“They wake him up once or twice a day, [but] then he wants to pull his breathing tube out so they knock him back out,” said Ashley, who is a nurse practitioner in Houston. “His trauma surgeon said his speech would probably be impaired… which is not good for lawyering.”
According to friends, Falgoust was in good spirits hours before the attack.
Matt Corcoran, the league manager of GO Kickball, the local league Falgoust plays involved in, was with Falgoust at the Knox Street Pub Thursday night after their game.
“He was actually super excited because he had just had a job interview with a law firm that day,” Corcoran said. “Damien normally doesn’t get that excited about that stuff – he’s usually on the pessimistic side – but he was ecstatic.”
Corcoran and fellow GO Kickball league manager Mike Hsu created a fundraising event for Dec. 16 on Falgoust’s behalf to raise money for the medical bills. On Facebook, it is titled “Damien’s Sunday Funday… Kickball and Saints Football.” Friends are invited to come together for a couple of Falgoust’s favorite activities in his honor.
The Dallas legal community was also stunned by the news of Falgoust’s attack.
Preston Bernhisel, a senior associate at Baker Botts who worked on MetroPCS matters, said Falgoust was “patient and understanding with me as a young associate just starting to practice law.”
Falgoust’s closest friend at MetroPCS was Lisa Sutter, who worked in the company’s accounting department and is now on the Carrolton City Counsel.
“Damien is a great guy – always a pleasure to be around and to work with,” says Sutter. “He always took time to visit with people. This is a real tragedy. He is in our prayers.”
If anyone has information regarding Falgoust’s attack, please call Detective Singer at 214-671-3603.
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