A district court judge awarded a combined $6.6 million to four whistleblowers on April 4 in their lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The whistleblowers were fired not long after reporting Paxton to the FBI. Travis County Judge Catherine Mauzy said in her judgment that the plaintiffs, “by a preponderance of evidence,” proved liability, damages, and attorney’s fees in their complaints against Paxton’s office.
“Because the Office of the Attorney General violated the Texas Whistleblower Act by firing and otherwise retaliating against the plaintiff for in good faith reporting violations of law by Ken Paxton and OAG, the court hereby renders judgment for plaintiffs,” Mauzy stated.
The court determined the four Paxton aides were fired in retaliation for coming forward with allegations that he was using his office to accept bribes from Nate Paul, a real estate developer based in Austin, Texas. Paul had employed a woman who was allegedly having an extramarital affair with Paxton.
The attorney general has denied accepting bribes or misusing his office to help Paul.
The judgment found that the employees made their reports to law enforcement in “good faith” and that Paxton’s office had not disputed any claims or damages made in their lawsuit.
“It should shock all Texans that their chief law enforcement officer, Ken Paxton, admitted to violating the law, but that is exactly what happened in this case,” said Tom Nesbitt, an attorney for Blake Brickman, and TJ Turner, an attorney for David Maxwell, in a joint statement on April 4.
Paxton, whose office will appeal the ruling, called it “ridiculous” and “not based on the facts or the law” in an April 4 statement.
The attorney general became the center of a federal investigation after eight employees reported Paxton’s office to the FBI in 2020 for bribery. He made an agreement to settle the lawsuit for $3.3 million, which required the Legislature to pay. The House refused his request and instituted its own investigation before impeaching him in 2023. The state Senate later acquitted Paxton.
The court ruled that ordering Paxton and his aides—chief of staff Lesley French Henneke, senior adviser Michelle Smith, and first assistant attorney general Brent Webster—to testify in the lawsuit would not be proper.
“For purposes of this proceeding, what matters is that [Paxton’s office’s] agreement to a finding of liability makes it significantly less likely that testimony from these four witnesses is needed to resolve any remaining factual dispute,” the ruling stated.
