City of El Paso files lawsuit against A.G. Paxton for judicial clarification
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The City of El Paso has filed a lawsuit against the Texas Attorney General’s Office to seek judicial clarification following a recent ruling regarding the release of legal billing records connected to past and active lawsuits involving the El Paso Police Department.
The City did this to ensure its compliance with state law while handling sensitive information. The lawsuit seeks clarity on what may be released to the public without compromising attorney-client communications or litigation strategies.
This issue stems from an open records request filed by El Paso Matters back in May. The request asked for the police department's legal billing invoices.
El Paso Matters CEO Bob Moore commented on today's lawsuit, "The city is trying to claim that every dollar amount, date, word, punctuation mark and space in a legal invoice should be shielded from the people paying for those services. This secrecy attempt is an absurd reading of transparency laws and a sad moment for our community."
The City says they went to the Attorney General for guidance on what to release. In August, A.G. Paxton ruled that limited redactions in the release of the information was appropriate. Under Texas law, the City can file a lawsuit within 30 days of the ruling. They filed the suit on the 11th.
City Council voted to file the lawsuit today, however. The City Attorney's office filed the suit before the vote in order to get it in on time. According to a city spokesperson, "While the City Attorney’s Office acted to preserve the City’s legal rights, City Council retains full authority to determine whether the lawsuit continues. Had the Council decided not to proceed during today’s meeting, the City would have withdrawn the case."
The vote passed 7-1, with Representative Josh Acevedo the lone vote against. He said, "There was plenty of time to ask the council to move in this direction and if today’s action failed they would have had to withdraw it from court."
ABC-7 will continue to monitor the case as it progresses.
