The Texas Supreme Court paused discovery in a lawsuit over a $2 million dollar hotel tax incentive involving the City of Corpus Christi and Mayor Paulette Guajardo.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A legal dispute over a $2 million dollar tax incentive agreement for the Homewood Suites by Hilton in downtown Corpus Christi has reached the Texas Supreme Court, temporarily pausing parts of the case.
The lawsuit, filed by hotelier Ajit David against the City of Corpus Christi, Mayor Paulette Guajardo and architect Phillip Ramirez, seeks to invalidate the tax incentive agreement.
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The Texas Supreme Court granted temporary relief to the city, Guajardo and Ramirez by pausing the discovery process, including depositions that had been scheduled for Tuesday and late July. The order delays those proceedings while the court considers whether the trial court should first rule on pending jurisdictional questions.
Municipal law expert Carlos Valdez, who has served as a county attorney, district attorney, city attorney and district judge. That has given him experience from virtually every angle in cases like this.
“A lawsuit has been filed against the city and against the mayor and some other officials. The city and the mayor are defending themselves by challenging the jurisdiction of the court,” Valdez said.
Valdez said the city and the mayor are asking the Texas Supreme Court to require the trial judge to rule on the jurisdictional motions before allowing discovery to continue.
“The lawyers for the city and the mayor say we don’t wanna take any deposition until the court rules,” Valdez said. “They’re asking the Supreme Court to order the judge, the trial judge, to rule on those motions of questioning jurisdiction before allowing any discovery in the case.”
He said that request follows the typical legal process.
“Which is the way it has been done in the past whenever a motion challenging the jurisdiction is filed. The court should rule on that motion before allowing the case to go forward,” Valdez said.
In a statement to 3NEWS, David said: “Past December, the trial court ordered the Mayor to provide sworn testimony. To avoid being placed upon oath again, the Mayor appealed to the 13th Court of Appeals and lost. Now, the Mayor has filed with the Texas Supreme Court begging to avoid being placed under oath (again). Mayor can run from the truth, but she cannot hide from the truth.”
Mayor Guajardo’s attorney, John Flood, said there is an important distinction to make.
“Interesting thing I’ve heard is that people are saying the mayor doesn’t want her deposition to be taken. The mayor’s already had her deposition taken. Mr. David’s never been deposed. And so she’s not hiding anything. She’s just simply asking the Supreme Court to order a trial judge to do what we think the law requires her to do. That’s what this is about,” Flood said.
Under the Texas Supreme Court’s order, David must file a response by Aug. 5. His legal team will have the opportunity to argue why the trial court’s discovery order should remain in effect before the Supreme Court determines how the case will proceed.
3NEWS will continue to follow the case and provide updates as they become available.