Wood County<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\nGeisler knew the lawsuit would target some of East Texas\u2019 most powerful officials. Suing a sitting district judge, a district attorney and a sheriff was not something she took lightly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The legal odds were daunting. The political risks were obvious.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, during Bevill\u2019s second visit to her 14th-floor Dallas office, Geisler asked a simple question. Given everything that happened to him \u2014 being fired from his job, losing the health insurance his ailing wife desperately needed and being arrested and charged with a third-degree felony that loomed over him for 16 months \u2014 would he do it again?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bevill didn\u2019t hesitate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, Miss Laura, I would,\u201d Bevill replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cBecause it was the right thing to do,\u201d he told her. \u201cI took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, and I maintained my oath. Those men did not.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
At that moment, Geisler said she decided to represent him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf that man had that much courage to stand up for what he believed,\u201d she recalled, \u201cI had an equal responsibility as a lawyer to make sure he was represented.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTerry was a good person,\u201d added Geisler, a partner at Sommerman, McCaffity, Quesada & Geisler in Dallas. \u201cI wanted to help him, but I also wanted to know whether it would be worth it for him. So we\u2019re not wasting anyone\u2019s time and don\u2019t get poured out right away.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Geisler had to evaluate whether Bevill had a valid legal claim, given the immunity issues that applied \u2014 judicial immunity, prosecutorial immunity, and Bevill\u2019s First Amendment rights as a public official \u2014 and whether his speech was protected.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to thread the needle legally,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was a huge bar.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Like any law firm, she also had to evaluate the cost of handling such a case, including the likelihood of recovering any damages if successful. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The case would become part of a seven-year legal battle that involved thousands of hours of legal work, survived two trips to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and pitted a small-town police captain against some of East Texas\u2019 most influential public officials \u2014 ultimately leading to a $21.35 million federal jury verdict, though much of it would prove difficult to collect.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In an interview, Geisler told The Texas Lawbook that Bevill had suffered \u201ca tremendous loss for doing the right thing.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cFor me, filing a lawsuit was such an important step,\u201d said Geisler. \u201cPublic officials are given a lot of trust. And whenever they violate that trust, the only way I think to right the wrong is to hold them accountable. And filing the lawsuit was the first step in holding them to account publicly by calling them out about what they did.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bevill was the first witness called at the federal trial in Sherman. \u201cI felt like a brand new man when I walked out,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was off my shoulders.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bevill said Geisler warned him the legal battle would be difficult.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the start of it, Miss Laura said we were in for a long haul,\u201d Bevill said, \u201cand we don\u2019t know where it is going because there are so many obstacles. Everything they threw in front of her, she jumped it like a jack rabbit. They couldn\u2019t shut her down. But she was in the right. That made it just a little bit easier.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The lawsuit stemmed from events that began on June 2, 2017, when Bevill signed an affidavit supporting a request by a coworker and former Wood County jail administrator, David McGee, to move his criminal trial out of Wood County.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The affidavit by Bevill, attached to a motion for a change of venue filed on behalf of McGee, claimed that the jail administrator could not receive a fair trial in Wood County because of overly close relationships among the sheriff, the state district attorney and the judge.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bevill\u2019s suit contended he was fired shortly thereafter by David Dobbs, then the mayor of Quitman, because of pressure from Tom Castloo, then the Wood County sheriff; Jim Wheeler, the district attorney at the time; and Jeff Fletcher, who then presided over the state district court for Wood County \u2014 the three officials Bevill identified in the affidavit by office, though not by name, as comprising a \u201cdangerous combination\u201d of \u201cinfluential persons.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The controversy escalated after McGee was convicted in a criminal trial.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Judge Fletcher issued a warrant charging Bevill with aggravated perjury based on statements contained in the affidavit. Bevill surrendered to authorities, was booked into jail and spent hours in custody before being released on bond under a series of restrictions, including surrendering firearms and obtaining permission before leaving Wood County.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The criminal case lingered for more than a year before being presented to a grand jury. In October 2018, the grand jury declined to indict Bevill, effectively ending the prosecution.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Dobbs, Castloo, Wheeler and Fletcher were all defendants in the federal lawsuit, along with the city of Quitman and Wood County. After a six-day trial in September 2024, the eight-member jury found that Mayor Dobbs retaliated against Bevill for exercising his First Amendment rights and that Fletcher, Wheeler, Castloo, Dobbs and the city of Quitman conspired to bring about his termination.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The jury exonerated only the county, of which Quitman is the seat. The other defendants were found collectively liable for $18 million in compensatory damages and $3.35 million in punitive damages.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In closing arguments, Geisler described Castloo, Wheeler and Fletcher as a \u201ctrilogy of power\u201d in the largely rural East Texas county.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During the trial, the defense downplayed Bevill\u2019s damages, characterizing them as at most \u201churt feelings, anger and frustration\u201d from being fired.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Geisler, however, called the allegations \u201can absurd statement\u201d after Bevill had been arrested, jailed, released under strict restrictions and lost his reputation and livelihood as a Texas peace officer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite being promised that he would remain covered by health insurance for three months after being fired, Bevill learned that the policy had been canceled during his wife\u2019s clinic visit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTerry was at one of the lowest points of his life,\u201d Geisler said. \u201cHe put his last bit of money into the car to get to Dallas for his wife\u2019s doctor\u2019s appointment \u2014 only to discover his insurance had been canceled. He had to tell his wife, \u2018I can\u2019t pay five hundred dollars.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After the federal lawsuit was filed in Sherman, Geisler noticed changes in Bevill\u2019s demeanor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI noticed how important it was for Terry to tell his story,\u201d she said. \u201cThe transformation when he came to my office when I said I would take his case and when the lawsuit was filed, you could see him regain a little bit of his dignity. He was so appreciative that someone heard him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know if I could get a remedy for him. But I knew he needed to be heard.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Geisler said Bevill took the stand as their first witness. She said that when he got off the stand, \u201cit was like seeing a complete transformation of the man. It was like he grew six inches.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bevill acknowledged that he felt like \u201ca brand new man\u201d after testifying. \u201cJust wanted to tell my story,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI wanted my side heard. \u2026 It was off my shoulders.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
During the federal trial, Geisler also said she had \u201cno idea what I was going to ask for in damages\u201d other than to say Bevill was \u201cseeking millions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, she said that when her co-counsel Sean McCaffity questioned Fletcher, the former state district judge, on the witness stand, he \u201cthrew me a softball.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
When Fletcher was asked whether he would accept $10 million to be illegally arrested, he answered \u201cno.\u201d He also testified that he considered the price of freedom to be \u201cpretty much\u201d priceless.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although a federal jury awarded Bevill a total of $21.35 million, Geisler said she knew they would be limited in their ability to collect. Instead, the city of Quitman has agreed to a $1.22 million settlement, and all defendants have settled out for an undisclosed sum.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In all, she said her law firm billed for 2,200 hours, though it \u201cprobably charged for only a quarter\u201d of the hours spent on the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve certainly handled cases with horrific catastrophic injuries that resulted in verdicts or settlements where financially it was more lucrative for me,\u201d said Geisler, who has spent 29 years advocating for clients in catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, product liability and civil rights cases. \u201cThis case was never about that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI have gone up against large corporations with tremendous resources to fight me with and defendants who would go to the ends of the earth to avoid accountability for the harm they caused to another,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut never have I gone up against public officials who used their positions of power to weaponize the justice system to retaliate against a man who \u2014 consistent with his oath \u2014 chose to speak up in defense of the constitutional rights of another.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After reaching a settlement, the city of Quitman issued a proclamation on June 18 honoring Bevill, who has continued to live there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTerry deserves to end his career and this chapter in his life with the recognition he probably deserves,\u201d Geisler said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a hero,\u201d she added. \u201cTo have the courage to stand up like that. He stood firm. Despite all the suffering, he said he would do it again. I think that tells you a lot about Terry Bevill.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Texas Lawbook is an online news publication focused on business law in Texas. For more legal news, visit texaslawbook.net.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lawyer Laura Benitez Geisler and her client, Terry Bevill. Bevill won a $21 million judgment against local officials…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2441,815,102,104,103,98981,92331],"class_list":["post-351344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-court","tag-courts","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-tp-the-texas-lawbook","tag-tp-courts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}