Texas Attorney General's Office tells lawmakers they should fund $3.3M settlement in whistleblower lawsuit
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 four men.
House Speaker Dade Phelan made headlines across the state last week when he told CBS 11 that Paxton would have to ask lawmakers to approve funding to settle the case. "He's going to have to sell it to 76 members of the Texas House. That's his job, not mine."
When asked if he supported it personally, Phelan said, "No. I don't think it's proper use of taxpayers' dollars."
That led State Representative Jarvis Johnson, D-Houston, to ask Paxton a direct question during the hearing. "General Paxton, will you be willing to pay for it out of your campaign account?"
Paxton didn't answer but Hilton said, "There is no whistleblower case where any individual has paid anything because the individual is not liable under the terms of the statute."
Under the agreement, Paxton would also apologize to the four men and remove the press release that calls the men rogue employees from the agency's web site.
Knight said, "These men lost really high stakes and prestigious careers as a result of having the courage that they had to go to federal law enforcement officials over what they believed to be unlawful conduct. They didn't deserve to pay for that act of bravery and that act of loyalty to the state with some of the things that they experienced both in their personal and professional lives and in the press."
If the settlement agreement is approved by lawmakers, it will become part of the state's next two-year budget.
Governor Greg Abbott must sign the budget or veto it.
In an interview with the Texas Tribune Tuesday, Abbott said he agreed with Phelan that Paxton will have to explain to lawmakers why taxpayers should pay to settle the case.
During the hearing, lawmakers asked what would happen if they rejected the $3.3 million settlement agreement.
Hilton said the case would proceed to trial.
Paxton's office said it has already spent nearly $600,000 to defend the case because it has to use lawyers outside the agency.
Hilton told lawmakers going to trial would increase costs to the state and obviously taxpayers in potentially two ways:
Spending more to defend the case, and if the state loses, the payout to the four men could be quite a bit higher than $3.3 million.