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Texas Supreme Court: AG Ken Paxton won't have to sit for deposition in whistleblower suit

Texas State Rep. Shelby Slawson, left, and Texas State Sen. Angela Paxton, right, listen as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, center, speaks to anti-abortion activists at a rally outside the Supreme Court, Monday, Nov. 1, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Jacquelyn Martin
/
AP
Attorney General Ken Paxton is at the center of a 2020 lawsuit claiming wrongful termination of four former employees.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won’t have to testify in a whistleblower lawsuit claiming he fired four employees after they reported him to the FBI in 2020.

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday said Paxton, along with three of his senior employees’ depositions, wouldn’t be necessary for the case after the Attorney General’s Office chose not to dispute those claims earlier this year.

“We agree with OAG that the trial court abused its discretion in ordering the depositions of these four witnesses without considering that the only fact issue on which those witnesses are likely to provide information — OAG’s liability under the Whistleblower Act — is now uncontested,” according to court documents.

The plaintiffs argued the depositions would have also helped a previous $3.3 million settlement that should have been approved by the Texas Legislature — but was instead settled with Paxton’s impeachment.

In November 2020, four of eight former agency employees for the OAG were fired after they filed a FBI criminal complaint against Paxton over bribery with a campaign donor and friend, harassment, tampering with government records, and abuse of office. They later sued Paxton for wrongful retaliation and termination, claiming he violated the Texas Whistleblower Act.

The OAG called the court's decision a "major win for the state of Texas" in a press release on Friday.

"The State Supreme Court has sided with Attorney General Paxton against former OAG employees whose effort to prolong costly, politically-motivated litigation against the Agency has wasted public resources for years," the statement read.

The whistleblowers’ attorneys claim Paxton is avoiding testifying as they’ve pushed for his deposition and a trial case over the past three years — preventing the former employees from proving their allegations in court and from Paxton admitting to those claims.

On Jan. 19, a Travis County judge ordered Paxton to sit for his deposition Feb. 1 after the plaintiffs and Paxton failed to negotiate a scheduled testimony date.

The OAG then appealed the Texas Supreme Court to put the depositions on hold. On Jan. 30, the court temporarily blocked depositions without an explanation, giving the OAG until Feb. 29 to respond with their broader legal arguments.

Paxton in June argued the lower court imposed its authority in requiring his testimony and that the case should have already ended.

But the former employees argued without the depositions, a future Legislature-funded settlement may be in jeopardy and allowing Paxton to avoid a previously ordered testimony will discourage future state employees looking to report improper conduct.

Got a tip? Email Penelope Rivera at privera@kera.org.

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Penelope Rivera is KERA's Breaking News Reporter. She graduated from the University of North Texas in May with a B.A. in Digital and Print Journalism.