Judge District Judge Christine Hortick has filed a lawsuit against county officials over their refusal to fund a court coordinator exclusively for her court, the 225th District Court.
Andrew J. Whitaker/San Antonio Express-News
State District Judge Nadine Nieto wants to hire her court clerk to serve as court coordinator for both her and Judge Christine Hortick’s court. Hortick, however, wants to interview potential candidates for the post while her lawsuit proceeds.
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A compromise Bexar County commissioners hoped would resolve a staffing dispute has instead landed the county in court, with state District Judge Christine Hortick suing over funding for a court coordinator.
The lawsuit comes two weeks after commissioners approved a compromise creating one shared coordinator position for Hortick and Judge Nadine Nieto.
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Hortick filed suit Friday, arguing the county must pay for a court coordinator for her court instead of requiring her to share one with Nieto.
The lawsuit asks a judge to order Bexar County to pay for a court coordinator assigned exclusively to the 225th District Court rather than requiring Hortick to share one with Nieto.
A court coordinator essentially serves as a scheduling manager and case-flow organizer. The position pays up to $81,986 in annual salary and benefits.
Nieto said she selected her court clerk for the position, but the county has “frozen” the hiring process because the shared arrangement requires both judges to agree on a single coordinator. Hortick disagreed, saying the position simply has not been posted and could be filled immediately if the judges agreed on a candidate.
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Hortick’s lawsuit names County Manager David Smith, County Judge Peter Sakai and Commissioners Court’s four members as defendants.
RELATED: Bexar County tried to settle two judges’ staffing fight. One is not happy.
Hortick, who presides in the 225th District Court, argues Texas law authorizes judges to appoint a court coordinator for their own court and does not permit one coordinator to be shared between two judges.
Nieto, who was unavailable for comment Tuesday morning, presides in the 285th District Court.
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“If Judge Nieto appoints, the coordinator serves at Judge Nieto’s pleasure, and Plaintiff has no coordinator within the meaning of the statute — only the loan of another judge’s employee,” Hortick says in her complaint.
In an email Tuesday, Hortick said commissioners have an obligation to fund the staff necessary for basic court operations.
A spokesman for county officials said they do not comment on pending litigation. He didn’t immediately address questions about funding for the shared coordinator.
During the July 7 Commissioners Court meeting, Deputy County Manager Thomas Guevara said the two courts’ workloads did not justify separate coordinator positions.
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Commissioner Justin Rodriguez proposed funding one shared coordinator “in the spirit of compromise,” and commissioners unanimously approved the plan.
READ MORE: Judge Christine Hortick shakes up a six-decade-old court system in Bexar County
Hortick challenges the county’s workload analysis. Her lawsuit alleges Guevara understated the 225th District Court’s caseload by telling commissioners the two courts averaged 2,384 pending cases each, when the 225th District Court alone had 5,630 pending cases as of July 3.
“I believe both Judge Nieto and myself are each in need of our own coordinator,” Hortick said. “That being said, I am eager to start interviewing candidates for the singular position that has been funded while I await the outcome of my lawsuit.”
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Hortick and Nieto began operating outside Bexar County’s decades-old, centralized system for assigning civil cases to judges on March 1. The two judges have argued that cases should remain with the judges to whom they were originally assigned in order to not waste time — to avoid wasting the time of plaintiffs, defendants, attorneys and judges.
Their decisions to leave the system prompted a dispute over whether their courts required dedicated coordinators.
The lawsuit was randomly assigned to Nieto’s court, according to court records. In her petition, however, Hortick asked that an outside judge be assigned to hear the case because all Bexar County civil district judges have an interest in the funding dispute.
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