AUSTIN (CBSDFW.COM) – On Tuesday, the Texas Attorney General's Office defended its proposed settlement agreement in the whistleblower lawsuit filed against the state.
Chris Hilton, litigation chief at the Attorney General's Office, answered questions about the lawsuit from members of a House Appropriations Subcommittee, which held a hearing on the agency's request for the next two-year budget.
Attorney General Ken Paxton spoke to lawmakers about his office's budget request but didn't speak about the whistleblower lawsuit.
Four of Paxton's former top deputies filed suit against the state after court records showed they went to the FBI more than two years ago and made allegations of bribery among others against the attorney general.
Paxton then fired them, calling them "rogue employees" in an agency news release.
Hilton told lawmakers this case is not against Paxton. "The case is against the State of Texas and that's true of any whistleblower act employment case."
Joe Knight, an attorney for one of the whistleblowers, Ryan Vassar, said state law requires the state agency to be the defendant. "The only entity we could sue is not Mr. Paxton, but instead the office of the attorney general. The state is obligated by statute to defend the agency when a lawsuit is brought against it and when that lawsuit is resolved either in a settlement or a judgment, I think it's the state's obligation to pay that."
As part of the settlement agreement, the state would pay $3.3 million to the...
SAN JOSE, Calif. (CN) — A federal judge on Thursday refused to toss all claims against a sugar company accused in a putative class action of advertising its products as eco-friendly while giving t...