A father's quest

Hoda Kotb Correspondent • Profile

DALLAS, TEXAS— Charles Moody, a hard-charging attorney, made a name for himself by doggedly defending corporate giants against claims from the little guy.

For years, Moody was the hired gun for big psychiatric hospitals, defending them against abuse claims brought by aggrieved patients and sometimes grieving parents.

For Moody, it was nothing personal. He was just doing his job—at least that’s what he thought at the time. That meant battling someone like Judy Chandler, a mother and homemaker from a small town in Louisiana who suffered a heart-wrenching experience with her son.

Defending the Brown schools
Moody squared off in court with Chandler years ago on behalf of the Brown Schools, a national chain of treatment facilities for kids with emotional and behavioral issues. She was suing the Brown schools on behalf of her 18-year-old son, Brandon, who died in their care.

She hated Charles Moody and his team from the start. “Just naturally, I just couldn’t stand ‘em,” says Chandler. “They were the enemy, you know.”

For Moody, it was strictly business. It was another day in court and another case to win.

Judy Chandler sued the schools in an effort to hold someone accountable for the death of her only son: Brandon was a rambunctious, risk-taking kid who loved the outdoors and hunting and fishing. When he was 16, Brandon fell out of a moving pickup truck while drinking and suffered a head injury. He survived, but ended up with brain damage.

He had to re-learn everything, including walking and talking. Frustrated by his disability, Brandon developed anger issues. Eventually, experts said the best place for Brandon was the Brown Schools’ hospital in Austin.

He was there only a month when a doctor at the hospital called Judy with agonizing news. 

"He started telling me that Brandon had been combative that night. And that they had put him in a camisole [straight jacket]. Something had happened and he had started vomiting. And ended up aspirating on the vomit. And that Brandon had passed away," recalls Chandler of the day she received the news. "I kinda felt like I died myself."

Judy hired an attorney, did some investigating, and learned details of that horrible night. Then she faced off in court with Charles Moody and told her wrenching story.

She says Brandon had acted out and staff restrained him, she believes as punishment.

"What hurts so bad is to know what must Brandon have been thinking when they were holding him down. And he was just trying to get up," she says. "He was brain injured. And they weren’t. How could they have done that?"

But Charles Moody, on behalf of the Brown Schools, argued its counselors were well-trained and did their jobs and the death was simply a tragic accident.

In her lawsuit, Chandler claimed Brandon died because staff “failed to follow proper procedures” and failed to “properly attend” to her son. But Judy says the Brown schools — and their hired gun Charles Moody — tried to shift the blame to Brandon and indirectly to her.

"That was their defense — maybe he just wasn’t the great, wonderful child he should have been. Maybe if he’d have been a better person, none of this would have happened," says Chandler.

Settling out of court
But no jury would ever hear about Brandon and how he died, nor decide if anything was done wrong.

After seven years of legal wrangling and astronomical legal bills, Chandler was exhausted and decided to settle out of court.

"I do regret it," she says now. "But you reach a point where you think it’s enough. I got to stop. I’ve got go on with my life.'"

The Brown Schools never admitted fault in Brandon’s death — in essence, a victory for Moody. The company, however, did pay Chandler an undisclosed amount of money. 

"Anybody thinks, 'This is going to make you feel a little better. We made them pay.' But... it’s nothing. That’s the emptiest feeling I have ever felt in my life," she says.

And she says even a small gesture of kindness from Charles Moody felt hollow. After the settlement, Charles Moody walked up to Judy Chandler and put his hand on your shoulder and said something to her: He said, “Miss Chandler, I really did think you were a good mother."

Nothing would bring her son back, yet Chandler thought she at least had forced some changes to prevent another death like Brandon’s. In fact she said Brown schools executive assured her that things would be different.

But it did happen again to another teenaged boy much like Brandon who died nearly the same way in another Brown Schools facility.

Charles Moody would be drawn into this battle, too— but in a way he never expected.

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