The whistleblower lawsuit against Attorney General Ken Paxton has once again been put on pause, this time by a judge who had not been previously involved in the case.
The Texas Supreme Court agreed to jumpstart the case in late September after the state Senate acquitted Paxton in an impeachment trial that centered on the whistleblower claims. But on Tuesday morning, Paxton’s office asked a Burnet County judge, Evan Stubbs, for an emergency temporary restraining order, claiming the whistleblowers violated the tentative settlement they reached in February by asking the Supreme Court to reinstate the case, which had been filed in Travis County. Stubbs agreed within hours, ordering the whistleblowers to halt their litigation for at least a week.
Stubbs set a Nov. 14 hearing on Paxton’s petition for a temporary injunction.
“This lawsuit is Ken Paxton’s latest cowardly attempt to avoid testifying under oath,” TJ Turner and Tom Nesbitt, lawyers for two of the whistleblowers, said in a statement. “Just like he hid out during his impeachment trial, sheltered from giving testimony, he’ll do anything to avoid accountability.”
Responding to the order, Paxton’s office said the whistleblowers “continue to seek to have their settlement funded by the legislature, while simultaneously seeking to litigate their claims.”
"Texas law is clear that settlement agreements should be enforced,” Paxton said in a statement. “If plaintiffs are allowed to disregard their settlements with the State,...
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