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TEXAS SUPREME COURT VACATES COURT OF APPEALS JUDGEMENT AGAINST PETER ZAVALETTA, FREEDOM COMMUNICATIONS (BROWNSVILLE HERALD), REMANDS CASE
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<br /><br /><i>(Ed's. Note: Rather than comment on a subject way beyond our modest legal expertise, we will let the reader peruse through the rationale behind the Texas Supreme Court's decision to vacate the rulings issued by convicted former 404th District Judge Abel Limas against Brownsville attorney and former Brownsville Navigation District Commissioner Peter Zavaletta and the Brownsville Herald. As a result of the Limas indictment, it was disclosed that Limas admitted to taking a bribe in return for rulings for the plaintiffs in the case. Zavaletta has indicated that he will now seek sanctions against the respondents and counsel in the case.)</i><br /><br />FREEDOM COMMUNICATIONS, INC., D/B/A THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD AND<br />VALLEY MORNING STAR, PETITIONER,<br />v.<br />JUAN ANTONIO CORONADO, ET AL., RESPONDENTS<br /><br /><br /><br />This interlocutory appeal is from the denial of a media defendant’s motion for summary judgment regarding claims that it defamed the plaintiffs and invaded their privacy by publishing a political advertisement.<br />We conclude that neither the court of appeals nor this Court has jurisdiction to consider the merits of the parties’ arguments because the trial court judge accepted a bribe for ruling on the summary-judgment motion, constitutionally disqualifying him from this case and thus making his order void.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzjvo5QpMr7Ok103-wyrp5EjeVpJPBw3LNlHl66SwLdYprNXlfOn0_CagwxjeaWmoq5TCL-grhiQnSQtsZCjgx1rIC1QNYXe-Htzjvoz3leT7q_5EQaRCvPHW7IVq6fZEKYjKvd0J6m0Y/s1600/zavaletta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzjvo5QpMr7Ok103-wyrp5EjeVpJPBw3LNlHl66SwLdYprNXlfOn0_CagwxjeaWmoq5TCL-grhiQnSQtsZCjgx1rIC1QNYXe-Htzjvoz3leT7q_5EQaRCvPHW7IVq6fZEKYjKvd0J6m0Y/s1600/zavaletta.jpg" /></a></div>We vacate the judgment of the court of appeals and remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings.<br />In 2008 Peter Zavaletta sought election to the position of Cameron County District Attorney.<br />During the course of his election campaign he advertised in the<i> Brownsville Herald</i> and <i>Valley</i><br /><i>Morning Star</i>, two Freedom Communications, Inc. (Freedom) newspapers, that the incumbent District Attorney failed to prosecute child abuse cases. The advertisement included the names of<br />individuals who were arrested, but not prosecuted, for alleged child abuse. Juan Antonio Coronado,<br />Francisco Solis Ramirez, Roberto Rivera III, and Ruben Contreras (collectively, Coronado) were<br />among the persons identified in the advertisement.<br />They sued Zavaletta, Freedom, and former District Attorney Yolanda DeLeon, contending that the advertisement defamed them and invaded their privacy. Freedom moved for summary judgment on the grounds that the advertisement was accurate, true, and non-actionable under the United States and Texas Constitutions and Texas statutory and common law.<br />The trial court judge, Abel Limas, denied the motion and Freedom filed an interlocutory appeal.The court of appeals affirmed, with one justice dissenting. Freedom filed a petition for review in this Court and as part of its briefing provided a copy of a plea agreement filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.<br />The agreement shows that after the court of appeals issued its decision, Limas pleaded guilty to federal<br />racketeering charges. He admitted in the plea that on May 8, 2008, he accepted $8,000 in cash for, in part, making rulings favorable to the plaintiffs in this case, including “denying [Freedom’s] Summary Judgment [motion] on November 26th.â€<br />The plea agreement is not in the appellate record and Coronado urges us not to consider it, arguing that Freedom’s reference to the plea amounts to an impermissible attempt to obtain sanctions against them in this Court. Freedom maintains that the facts contained in the plea agreement are appropriate for judicial notice and it is not seeking sanctions or any other relief based on Limas’s motives in ruling on the summary-judgment motion. <br />Instead, Freedom argues that we should decide the merits of this appeal, but do so using “close appellate scrutiny†because Limas’s guilty plea suggests hisruling on the summary-judgment motion was not the product of good faith.<br />An appellate court may take judicial notice of a relevant fact that is “either (1) generally known within the territorial jurisdiction of the trial court or (2) capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned.â€<br />Here, Freedom has provided a copy of Limas’s plea agreement in federal district court and urges us to take judicial notice of the facts in the agreement.<br />Freedom’s request leads us to question whether we have jurisdiction to decide this appeal. That is because appellate courts do not have jurisdiction to address the merits of appeals from void orders or judgments; rather, they have jurisdiction only to determine that the order or judgment underlying the appeal is void and make appropriate orders based on that determination.<br />If Limas’s order is void, then the court of appeals did not have authority to consider the merits of Freedom’s appeal from the order denying summary judgment, and neither do we. In these circumstances the facts in Limas’s plea agreement are relevant, it is appropriate for us to take judicial notice of them, and we do so. <br />The facts in the plea agreement show that Limas had an interest â€" an illegal interest, no less â€" in this case because he obtained a pecuniary gain as a direct result of his rulings, including his order denying Freedom’s summary-judgment motion.<br />Therefore, he was disqualified and his discretionary ruling on the summary-judgment motion was void. Because the order on which Freedom bases its appeal is void, we cannot address the merits of the appeal and the court of appeals did not have authority to do so either â€" even though it had no way of knowing so. <br />Accordingly, without hearing oral argument, we vacate the court of appeals’ judgment and<br />opinion. We remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings.<br />OPINION DELIVERED: June 22, 2012<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-4777546744649506418?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/06/texas-supreme-court-vacates-case.html
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TENNESSEE SHERIFF INVESTIGATING BOLIVAR RELEASE SNAFU
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<div><br /></div><div>From: <b>WDKN-AM 1260</b></div><div>Dickson, Tenn.</div>Dickson County, Tenn., Sheriff Jeff Bledsoe says an internal investigation is being conducted to determine how a man charged with murder in Texas was released from the Dickson County Jail about two weeks ago.<div>Randall Bolivar, age 31, of Brownsville, Texas, turned himself in Saturday at the Cameron County Jail after he was added to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Top Ten Most Wanted fugitives list. </div><div>Already serving a 15-year prison sentence in Texas for possession of marijuana, Bolivar was brought to Tennessee where he pleaded guilty to drug charges in Dickson County and was sentenced to three years probation. </div><div>But before Bolivar could be transferred back to Texas, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says he was “inadvertently†released from the Dickson County Jail, despite a pending charge of first-degree murder.</div><div>“We want to determine if it was human error or if there was some kind of computer problem,†Bledsoe said about the investigation into Bolivar’s release. </div><div>After determining that Bolivar might have fled the state, the TBI added him to its fugitives list. Bolivar turned himself in to authorities in Texas the next Saturday and was arraigned the following Monday on charges of fleeing from justice and a parole violation.</div><div>He is being held without bond. </div><div>Bolivar is charged with first-degree murder for the 2009 shooting death of Aaron Castillo in what Texas authorities describe as a confrontation over $500 that Castillo’s brother allegedly owed Bolivar.</div><div> Bledsoe said if his investigation determines that procedures or policies were violated in Bolivar’s release, there will be some type of disciplinary action taken.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-8161796089116798480?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/06/tennessee-sheriff-investigating-bolivar.html
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DE FORD ENDORSES SAENZ; MASSO ROW TO HOE GETS HARDER
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By <b>Juan Montoya</b><br />It came during the fundraiser that runoff Democratic Party candidate for District Attorney Luis Saenz held yesterday at Louie's Backyard.<br />The messenger, in the form of local architect David Mendez, said that even though Asst. DA Maria De Ford, who was barely kept out of the runoff could not be present in person, he was authorized to announce her endorsement of her colleague in the embattled District Attorney's Office.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjerLXDRaHPMl20EfNIXHYbyLQasWSO5Bxyivj_-s_uyzNupykMddg1zm1YwsgWRQSVVYaNCa1XCv9IaPoFT3cB6VHXQY2wA1Aw2kGQ1Ay1e-dWXzk9gOmIi08S-G43OdQPawEcCmGGhrA/s1600/luismaria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjerLXDRaHPMl20EfNIXHYbyLQasWSO5Bxyivj_-s_uyzNupykMddg1zm1YwsgWRQSVVYaNCa1XCv9IaPoFT3cB6VHXQY2wA1Aw2kGQ1Ay1e-dWXzk9gOmIi08S-G43OdQPawEcCmGGhrA/s400/luismaria.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-size: 16px;">Saenz is facing a runoff July 31 against former Cameron County Asst. DA Carlos Masso who barely beat out Saenz, also a fomer DA, and De Ford, who took a leave of absence from the office to stage her bid.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 16px;"> Masso's 8,072 votes were just 306 over Saenz's 7,766. Included in that total are an astounding 192 mail-in votes for Masso.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 16px;">De Fords 6,672 votes gave her almost 30 percent of the vote, with Masso getting 35.8 and Saenz 34.5.</span><br />Now, with De Ford endorsing Saenz, it appears that Masso's bid just became a mite harder.<br />For his part, Saenz welcomed De Ford's endorsement with open arms.<br />"The Luis V. Saenz for Cameron County District Attorney Campaign is proud to announce the endorsement of Maria Urbina De Ford," he said in a statement on his campaign web page. "Her endorsement is warmly received, and it is with great humility, appreciation, and gratitude that we accept this endorsement."<div><br /><br /> <span style="font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-646829019975694175?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/06/de-ford-endorses-saenz-masso-row-to-hoe.html
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