I previously wrote about the whistle blower allegations against Attorney General Ken Paxton here and here. I said then that it seemed like a clear whistle blower violation. And, sure enough, now AG Paxton has agreed to settle their claims. As part of that settlement, AG Paxton has agreed to apologize for calling former
Four former top aides to Attorney General Ken Paxton are suing him for violating state whistle blower laws. I wrote about that lawsuit here. AG Paxton has hired Bill Helfand, a well-known Houston employment lawyer, to defend him. Mr. Helfand will be paid $540 per hour for his services. In answer to the lawsuit,
As expected, Ken Paxton has provided generous lawsuits to his former deputies. Four of his recently fired senior assistants have filed suit based on whistle blowing. They allege they were fired because they reported violations of law by AG Paxton. see my prior post about their whistle blower complaints here. The lawsuit rightly notes
Ken Paxton is the Attorney General of Texas. Recently, seven of his top deputies submitted information to the AG’s Human Resource department accusing their boss of corruption. It is hard to over-state how extraordinary that is. Assistant AG’s are not liberal. They are generally careful and conservative. It is also obvious they reported the apparent
The Department of Justice, the pre-eminent law firm in the country, has sued Stephanie Winston Wolkoff for breach of a confidentiality agreement. Winston Wolkoff signed the Non-Disclosure Agreement when she worked for a time at the White House. Later, this year, she published a “tell-all” book about Melania Trump. Ms. Winston Wolkoff is a former
There is a federal statute which prohibits the naming of an Intelligence Community whistleblower. I previously wrote about that federal statute here. The statute specifically prohibits the Inspector General for the Intelligence Community from naming any whistleblower. See 50 U.S.C. Sec. 3033(g)(3)(A). But, the law probably also prevents any federal official from naming a
Many employees find themselves in a real quandary when the employer asks them to commit an illegal or unethical act. Texas law protects a worker who is asked to break a criminal statute. But, some employees become so vexed about their situation that s/he goes to the media. That is what happened in Peine v.
The City of San Antonio runs the city’s airport. But, the Airport has its own police department. Until 2009, the airport police department was separate from the San Antonio Police Department. Airport Police Officer Russell Martin complained about Sgt. Orlandop Battles’ time entries. In 2008, Officer Martin, a veteran of some 30 plus years in
In a recent opinion, the Texas Supreme Court clarified one key aspect of whistle blower complaints. The Texas Whistleblower statute applies to government employees only. See Tex. Govt.C. Sec. 554.001, et seq. The statute protects an employee who reports a possible violation of law. The report or question must be to an "appropriate law
The Federal False Claims Act, also known as qui tam lawsuits, have been around since the Civil War. In Fact, the False Claims Act was passed to deal with the many fraudulent government purchases during the Civil War. The Federal government was defrauded many times by contractors during the Civil War. The act allows a