A staffing dispute has erupted at the Bexar County Courthouse in the wake of state District Judges Nadine Nieto and Christine Hortick leaving the centralized docketing system on May 1. Shown is the Lady Justice statue atop a fountain in front of the Bexar County Courthouse.
Billy Calzada/San Antonio Express-News
Judge Nadine Nieto obtained a temporary restraining order that requires Bexar County officials to remove an administrative freeze that was blocking the hiring of a court coordinator.
Courtesy
Judge Sid Harle, senior district judge who presides over the multicounty 4th Judicial Administrative Judicial Region, issued the temporary restraining order Monday evening.
Eric Gay/Associated Press
A judge has ordered Bexar County officials to immediately unfreeze a court coordinator position and hire Judge Nadine Nieto’s chosen candidate, siding with her request for emergency relief in an escalating fight over staffing.
The temporary restraining order came hours after Nieto sued County Manager David Smith and Deputy County Manager Thomas Guevara, alleging they unlawfully froze an already approved and funded coordinator position after she selected her court clerk for the job.
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Commissioners Court approved the court coordinator position on July 7, and Nieto selected her longtime court clerk, Amber Martinez, to fill the job. The judge says the freeze has left her court without the staffing it needs.
The order directs county officials to remove the administrative freeze and immediately process Martinez’s hiring paperwork.
“My clerk has already demonstrated that she is fully qualified to serve as coordinator, having successfully performed the duties of the position for over 4 months,” Nieto said in an email. “She has done so without additional compensation because, like me, she understands the importance of ensuring our community receives timely and effective justice.”
Larry Roberson, the civil chief of the District Attorney’s office, said the county has filed a motion to dissolve the lawsuit. Attorneys for both sides are trying to determine an appropriate date for a hearing on the motion.
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READ MORE: Judge Christine Hortick sues Bexar County over court coordinator funding
Nieto filed her suit Monday morning, three days after state District Judge Christine Hortick sued county officials.
On March 1, Nieto and Hortick began operating outside Bexar County’s more than six-decade-old, centralized system for assigning civil cases to judges. The two judges have argued that cases should remain with the judges to whom they were originally assigned to avoid inefficiencies and wasting the time of the parties.
Their decision to leave the centralized system set off the dispute over whether their courts require dedicated coordinators, culminating in the lawsuits filed by each judge.
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Hortick argues in her lawsuit that the county must pay for a court coordinator assigned exclusively to her court instead of requiring her to share one with Nieto. Hortick’s suit names Smith, County Judge Peter Sakai and Commissioners Court’s four members as defendants.
In her petition, Nieto alleges Hortick has “elected not to utilize” the shared court coordinator position. Hortick disputed that characterization, saying she has always been willing to use half of the shared position while continuing to pursue her own lawsuit.
“I have asked when the position will be listed so that both Judge Nieto and I can begin interviewing candidates,” Hortick said in an email Thursday. “I want to begin utilizing half a coordinator as soon as possible but I should have a say in who that person is.”
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.
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In an email to Nieto on Monday, Ryan Anderson, general counsel for the Bexar County civil district courts, said he had been informed by county human resources that the coordinator position had been frozen until she and Hortick agreed on an appointment and jointly notified HR.
At 6:45 p.m. Monday, Judge Sid Harle, the senior district judge who presides over the multicounty 4th Judicial Administrative Judicial Region, issued the temporary restraining order that directs the county to immediately remove all “freezes” on the position and expedite the “onboarding process.”
Harle ordered Smith and Guevara to appear Aug. 4 in Nieto’s court for a hearing on whether a permanent injunction should be issued against them.
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