Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells has gone to court to try to shut down two south Fort Worth motels he says have turned into magnets for violent crime and drug dealing. On June 23, Sorrells filed civil lawsuits targeting the Super 7 Inn and the Delux Inn along the South Freeway, after authorities say Fort Worth police logged nearly 1,700 calls to the two properties dating back to 2024. He is asking a judge to order the motels cleaned up or closed, arguing they pose a danger to nearby residents and drain police and fire resources.
In a press release, the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office said it filed public nuisance petitions on June 23 and laid out detailed call and arrest totals for each motel, according to Tarrant County DA. From Jan. 1, 2024, through May 11, 2026, Fort Worth police recorded 755 calls for service at the Super 7 Inn and 933 calls at the Delux Inn, the release says. The petitions state officers made 27 arrests at the Super 7 Inn and 47 at the Delux Inn, listing recurring offenses that include narcotics violations, weapons charges, aggravated assaults, robberies and criminal trespass.
What the lawsuits allege
The DA’s petitions describe ongoing prostitution, unlawful carrying of weapons and repeated disorderly conduct at both motels, and ask the court to halt any operations that allow that activity to thrive. “The level of crime coming out of these motels is unacceptable and out of control,” Sorrells said in the release, according to Tarrant County DA. The filings seek injunctive relief that could include ordered security upgrades, eviction of problem tenants or full closure of the properties if the owners fail to abate the nuisance, the documents state.
How the city can act
In March, Fort Worth adopted a Habitual Nuisance Ordinance that lets the city label commercial sites as habitual nuisances and pursue remedies up to revoking their certificates of occupancy, according to the city code. Local reporting has followed the heavy volume of police calls to motels along the South Freeway corridor and noted that the city has already tested civil enforcement, including a temporary injunction against the Eco Motel last year, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. City officials have said they usually sit down with owners to seek voluntary fixes before going to court, but the DA’s suits now push the Super 7 and Delux Inn cases directly into the civil courts instead of relying solely on code-compliance channels.
What happens next
The civil nuisance cases will proceed in county civil court, where a judge will decide whether the motels qualify as public nuisances and what remedies to impose if they do. Chapter 125 of the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code authorizes district and county attorneys to bring these kinds of cases and allows courts to order injunctions and other remedies, including shuttering properties, as outlined in state law. Independent reporting by KERA News summarized the DA’s petitions and noted the office is pushing either for meaningful cleanup or outright shutdown of the motels.
Neighbors and owners
Reporting indicates that managers at both motels did not respond to requests for comment, and that the properties sit within a small cluster of locations that generate a disproportionate share of police calls in Fort Worth. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram documented how a short list of motels and apartment complexes accounted for hundreds of calls last year, a pattern that has helped drive officials to seek tougher civil tools. The owners of the Super 7 Inn and Delux Inn now face the possibility of court-ordered closure if they cannot show they are taking serious steps to curb criminal behavior on their properties.
Legal implications
The DA’s move relies on a civil enforcement strategy that targets property owners operationally and financially, rather than focusing solely on criminal charges against individual offenders. Chapter 125 provides the statewide framework for nuisance-abatement suits in Texas, while Fort Worth’s new ordinance spells out local procedures for designating and penalizing habitual nuisance commercial properties, including potential revocation of occupancy permits, as reflected in state statute and city code. The text of Chapter 125 is available via Justia, and the Fort Worth municipal code on habitual nuisances provides further detail on how the city can act.
