Whistleblower Act

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday said Ken Paxton won't have to sit for a deposition in a 2020 whistleblower lawsuit filed by former employees. The claim he fired them after reporting him to the FBI for bribery, abuse of office and other allegations.

The Fort Worth City Council voted unanimously Aug. 13 to approve $9.6 million in settlement payouts to ex-police chief Joel Fitzgerald and two other former employees.

The high court ruled against two municipal power company workers who said they were fired because they blew the whistle on a city council member who leaked allegedly confidential documents to the Denton Record-Chronicle.

Paxton, a Republican, beat the impeachment charges and now wants to end the lawsuit underlying them.

Friday's ruling means Paxton will have to answer questions under oath related to the lawsuit that prompted his impeachment last year.

The high court justices heard arguments Wednesday in what is now the city’s second appeal of a whistleblower lawsuit it lost in a 2020 trial.

Brickman said he feels senators bowed to political pressure when they voted to acquit Paxton during the impeachment trial.

The attorney general – who was acquitted in his Senate impeachment trial earlier this month – settled with the four former employees in February for $3.3 million, but the Texas Legislature has so far declined to approve the funds.

According to one of the Texas attorney general’s aides, the state has already spent nearly $600,000 defending Paxton. The aide conceded the state could end up having to pay even more if it were to litigate the case and lose.