A NFL player says he was blindsided by an area contractor who filed a massive lien on his home for work he says was never done — triggering a bitter legal dispute.
DALLAS — Terrance Shaw is no stranger to taking hits. He played a decade in the NFL, including in two Super Bowls for the New England Patriots and Oakland Raiders. But nothing, he says, prepared him for the legal blindsiding he took from a Dallas-area contractor.
In March 2023, Shaw’s Rockwall home flooded. Just six weeks later, a fire — likely caused by water-damaged wiring — tore through the already-devastated house.
Afterward, Shaw and his wife, Shawn, hired contractor Louis Waggoner based on a recommendation. Terrance signed a contract for water remediation, which included permission to use chemicals to kill mold and bacteria.
But the couple says that’s when the problems began.
“He kept asking for money,” Shawn Shaw said. “We’re saying, ‘Lou, how much is it going to cost to do this work?’”
The Shaws say the work of restoring their house never really got underway.
“Our house sat, and it looked condemned,” Terrance Shaw said.
The couple says they never received a written contract outlining the full scope of the project or its cost. After five months and little progress, they said they fired Waggoner. Records show he was paid about $7,700 for the water remediation.
“That’s all he’s owed. That’s all the work he’s done,” Shawn Shaw said.
But just weeks later, in September 2023, Waggoner filed a lien against their home for $354,000. The claim listed charges for “FIRE & SMOKE MITIGATION, DEMOLITION, CONTENT CLEANING, MOVING LABOR AND STORAGE.”
Waggoner then filed a second lien with the Texas Secretary of State — this time for more than $1 million. That type of lien requires a signed agreement in which the debtor explicitly grants a security interest in collateral. In this case, it would have been the Shaws’ home. But the Shaws, their attorney, and their lawsuit say no such agreement existed.
The Shaws provided photos showing the burned-out, dilapidated condition of the home from the week both liens were filed.
“What he did to us was a blindside move,” Terrance Shaw said.
In football, a blindside hit comes from behind — no warning, no chance to brace. The Shaws say Waggoner never notified them about the liens, as the law requires. Instead, they found out from their lender.
“You can do it to anybody,” Terrance Shaw said. “He could do it to you, you sitting here right now, and you would have to fight it.”
A lien is essentially a legal IOU tied to a property. Until it’s released or resolved, the lienholder can pursue foreclosure to recover the alleged debt.
“It puts the property owner clearly in a terrible spot,” said attorney Heath Grob, who represents the Shaws. “Either they have to negotiate with this person to get it released or face a foreclosure.”
The Shaws filed suit, asking a judge to declare the liens invalid.
“We were very detailed in our request of: show us receipts for money that you have spent. And the answer is we don’t have any,” Grob said. “There is no rational or logical reason why someone wouldn’t turn them over, save and except the fact they don’t exist.”
Meanwhile, the Shaws’ new contractors swore in affidavits that Waggoner didn’t perform the work he claimed to have done.
Waggoner agreed to lift the liens in September 2024.
But Waggoner then countersued the Shaws for $354,000, stating in court filings that he “completed the water and fire remediation without issue.” His countersuit states the Shaws were “unjustly enriched as a result of the fraud perpetrated” against him.
Through his attorney, Waggoner declined to comment or provide documentation of the work.
“Unfortunately, my client will not give you any interviews, and you seek attorney client / attorney work product information,” attorney Art Aguilar wrote.
The case is set for trial in Rockwall later this year. The Shaws say another contractor ultimately completed the job.
“This guy provides me a contract, he breaks down his work, he gives me prices, and he gets to work,” Terrance Shaw said.
They also say Waggoner took their clothes, furniture, and other belongings to store—and has refused to return them unless he gets paid.
Genevieve Eversley also hired Waggoner to repair her house after it flooded in 2022. She says he caused more harm than help, and that with her permission, he also took her belongings and placed them in storage. She says she asked him for a key for months.
She provided WFAA audio recordings of their conversations. On one, she accuses him of holding her belongings “hostage,” which he denies. Waggoner told her that keeping control of the storage unit was how he managed the job.
Eversley also accused him of mismanaging the work on her home.
“You trying to control every damn thing that I’m doing,” Waggoner said on the recording. “I don’t like being controlled. … You have to allow your contractors to do their job.”
He later quit the job via email.
She took him to small claims court over damage she says he caused to her home. That’s when she discovered Waggoner had already filed a $33,000 lien against her property.
“I read through this and I’m like, ‘He didn’t do half of this stuff,;” she said.
A justice of the peace ordered Waggoner’s company to pay Eversley $14,500 plus court costs.
“He has not paid me a dime,” she said.
She also filed a motion in district court to have the lien removed. When the lien case went to court, she says Waggoner didn’t show up.
“He knew he was wrong,” she said.
The judge ordered the lien removed, court records show.
Now, both Eversley and the Shaws are calling for changes to the law to make it harder to file questionable liens and easier for homeowners to fight back.
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