BREAKING NEWS!
Maverick County Judge and County Commissioners Slapped with Preliminary Injunction Against Issuance of $7.2 Million Certificates of Obligation and State Declaratory Judgment Lawsuit
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2023
After two lengthy days of testimony heard in United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Del Rio Division, before Chief U. S. District Judge Alia Moses, Chief Judge Moses granted on Monday, November 20, 2023, Plaintiff, Enriqueta Diaz’s motion for a preliminary injunction against Maverick County Judge Ramsey English Cantu and Commissioners Rossana Rios, Olga Ramos, and Roberto Ruiz from proceeding with the issuance of $7.2 million Certificates of Obligation (bonds) and ordered that Diaz’s 1983 claims for violation of her civil rights by County Judge Ramsey English Cantu upon finding her in contempt of court at the October 30, 2023 Commissioners Court meeting, ordering her arrested and be detained will proceed on the merits at a future trial to be scheduled by the court.
Chief Judge Moses grant of a preliminary injunction against the issuance of the $7.2 million Certificates of Obligation (bonds) is a huge victory for Diaz and the 1,665 Maverick County registered voters who signed a petition requesting a referendum election on the bonds.
Chief Judge Moses decision effectively stops Maverick County Commissioners Court from issuing the $7.2 million bonds for the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) $24 million expansion project for the Maverick County Water Treatment Plant at the Radar Base near Eagle Pass, Texas. The preliminary injunction basically enjoins Maverick County from proceeding with the bonds and the pending state district court lawsuit in the 293rd Judicial District Court seeking to validate the issuance of the $7.2 million bonds.
Court-appointed attorney Matt Manning of the Law Firm of Webb, Cason & Manning in Corpus Christi, Texas for Diaz stated that the preliminary injunction effectively makes Maverick County’s pursuit of the $24 million TWDB project “dead in the water.”
Manning added that Chief Judge Moses is allowing Diaz to pursue her 1983 civil rights claims against Defendants to proceed with a trial scheduled at a future date to be determined by the court.
Seeing the writing on the wall, Maverick County Judge Cantu and County Commissioners Rios, Ramos, and Ruiz’s attorney, Jack Stern, and Maverick County Attorney Jaime Iracheta negotiated a settlement with Diaz’s attorney, Matt Manning, that entails Maverick County withdrawing the issuance of the $7.2 million Certificates of Obligation (bonds), dismissing the Declaratory Judgment lawsuit in state court, and compensating Diaz for the violation of her civil rights arising from Judge Cantu’s holding her in contempt of court at the October 30, 2023 Commissioners meeting, ordering her arrested and detained by Maverick County Sheriff Department Deputies.
Maverick County will refer Diaz’s civil rights claims to their insurance company to evaluate and negotiate a settlement with her and her attorney involving compensation to her and for reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.
Chief Judge Moses approved the parties settlement after being presented to her by the parties’ attorneys.
At the November 20, 2023 Court hearring, Maverick County Commissioner Olga Ramos and Bond Counsel Carey Troell were called upon to testify before the Court’s ruling and the parties’ settlement announcement.
