In September of 2020, eight individuals in the highest positions at the Office of the Attorney General of Texas — all of them loyal Republicans — did an extraordinary and courageous thing for the people of Texas.
Placing their careers and financial well-being at risk, they reported to the FBI and Texas Rangers that they believed Attorney General Ken Paxton was abusing his office and misusing the massive power of his agency to benefit a friend and donor. Within weeks, the whistleblowers who did not resign were fired. Among them are a career prosecutor and a former Texas Ranger.
Four of the whistleblowers filed a lawsuit against the Office of the Attorney General for violation of the Texas Whistleblower Act. The act provides a cause of action to public employees who are fired for reporting criminal conduct by an agency or another public employee. Importantly, the act only allows whistleblowers to sue their employing agency and does not allow for personal claims against the individual doing the firing or accused of corruption.
The whistleblower suit is currently pending at the Texas Supreme Court on appeal of an esoteric argument made by the attorney general. Recently, the Office of the Attorney General and the whistleblowers reached a settlement where the whistleblowers would receive $3.3 million to compensate them for lost wages, compensatory damages and attorneys’ fees incurred in the 2-year-old court battle.
The Texas Legislature must now decide whether to approve...
Foley partner Lisa Noller, Chair of the Firm’s Litigation Department, will be speaking at the American Bar Association’s Qui Tam & Civil False Claims and Healthcare Fraud Institute in Washingt...