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Texas AG Ken Paxton's $3.3M settlement with whistleblowers in jeopardy
This makes me smile. A trial will expose a ton of dirty laundry
Link to tweet
https://www.khou.com/article/news/politics/texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-lawsuit-settlement/285-37472a1e-0d1a-444c-8180-220028a07b12
— Last month, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and agreed to a $3.3 million settlement with four former employees and to apologize. It’s a deal that may be falling apart.
The lawsuit alleged that Paxton fired the employees after they accused him of criminal acts, according to court filings. It was a payout that would be covered with taxpayer dollars and would have to be approved during this current legislative session.
On Wednesday, the attorneys for the fired employees sent KHOU 11 the ‘motion to lift abatement’ that they filed with the Texas Supreme Court, which would allow the suit to move forward again. The attorneys say they filed it because Paxton’s office wouldn’t agree that the legislative approval would happen during the current session. They released the following statement.
“Sadly, we have not been able to reach a final settlement because OAG will not agree to include in the formal agreement a deadline for the legislature to approve funding this session, even though that was the fundamental premise upon which they asked us to negotiate in the first place. So we’ll go back to court, where the taxpayers will end up paying more to defend OAG than they would to settle this case. We would still settle the case if the legislature approved the payment this session, but we cannot and did not agree to give OAG the benefit of a settlement while the whistleblowers wait in perpetuity for legislative approval.”
The lawsuit alleged that Paxton fired the employees after they accused him of criminal acts, according to court filings. It was a payout that would be covered with taxpayer dollars and would have to be approved during this current legislative session.
On Wednesday, the attorneys for the fired employees sent KHOU 11 the ‘motion to lift abatement’ that they filed with the Texas Supreme Court, which would allow the suit to move forward again. The attorneys say they filed it because Paxton’s office wouldn’t agree that the legislative approval would happen during the current session. They released the following statement.
“Sadly, we have not been able to reach a final settlement because OAG will not agree to include in the formal agreement a deadline for the legislature to approve funding this session, even though that was the fundamental premise upon which they asked us to negotiate in the first place. So we’ll go back to court, where the taxpayers will end up paying more to defend OAG than they would to settle this case. We would still settle the case if the legislature approved the payment this session, but we cannot and did not agree to give OAG the benefit of a settlement while the whistleblowers wait in perpetuity for legislative approval.”
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