{"id":86406,"date":"2025-12-13T03:36:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T03:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/86406\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T03:36:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T03:36:17","slug":"judge-reverses-course-removing-class-action-status-in-henry-b-gonzalez-convention-center-harassment-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/86406\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge reverses course, removing class action status in Henry B. Gonz\u00e1lez Convention Center harassment lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Days after granting class action certification<\/a> in a lawsuit filed against the City of San Antonio by former convention center employees who said they were sexually harassed and assaulted at work, court records show a Bexar County state district court judge is reversing course. <\/p>\n

On Friday, records obtained by KSAT Investigates show Judge Toni Arteaga withdrew an order she signed on Wednesday to grant class action status to the lawsuit. <\/p>\n

A class action designation typically increases the size of a lawsuit, as the pool of potential victims grows and visibility of the case increases.<\/p>\n

Court records state Arteaga mistakenly signed the wrong paperwork after asking both sides to submit arguments reflecting the judge\u2019s ruling denying class certification.<\/p>\n

The suit, which seeks more than $1 million in damages, was filed after a series of stories from KSAT Investigates<\/a> revealed that at least five maintenance supervisors at the convention center were accused of improperly treating female coworkers in recent years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The original suit alleges that under the watch of Convention and Sports Facilities Director Patricia Muzquiz Cantor, the convention center \u201chas become a den where male supervisors prey on their female subordinates.\u201d<\/p>\n

The motion for class action certification filed earlier this year stated that attorneys for the former employees contend at least 13 men employed at the convention center since 2021 \u201csexually harassed, assaulted, battered, and\/or sexually abused their female colleagues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nine of those 13 male employees were supervisors, according to the motion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis ruling sends a clear message,\u201d attorney Mark Anthony S\u00e1nchez told KSAT Investigates. \u201cPowerful institutions do not get to hide behind broken systems or indifferent leadership. Maria (Villegas) and Sarah (Schneuker) stood up because they believed the truth mattered \u2014 not just for themselves, but for every woman who worked under these abusive conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez added that the group\u2019s voices will now be heard and the city will have to answer for what happened.<\/p>\n

KSAT Investigates<\/p>\n

Hard-hitting journalism from the KSAT Investigates team delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n

Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Days after granting class action certification in a lawsuit filed against the City of San…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[698,815,40598,4976,1932,82,84,83],"class_list":["post-86406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-bexar-county","tag-courts","tag-henry-b-gonzalez-convention-center","tag-ksat-investigates","tag-lawsuit","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86406","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=86406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}