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Litigation

Appeals court decision draws widespread condemnation

An appellate decision over a TCAD lawsuit has astounded commercial property owners and attorneys who represent them. If the Texas Supreme Court allows it...

Central Health settles Wallace lawsuit

Fired executive signs settlement agreement for $99,316 It’s not the $1 million-plus he sought but Larimen Thaddeus “Larry” Wallace has signed a Settlement Agreement with...

Judge undercuts chief appraiser’s authority

Updated 11:05am February 18, 2020, to add a statement attributed to the chief appraiser. Court order means chief appraiser must seek board approval for each...

Appraisal review board and appraisal district sued

Five Stone Tax Advisers seeks court order for Travis Appraisal Review Board to conduct protest hearings Attorney Bill Aleshire today filed suit on behalf of...

TCAD loses Catherine Tower lawsuits at cost of nearly $850,000

Five local government agencies collecting property taxes must refund more than $638,000 in taxes already paid The appraisal district spent $204,000 on its attorney fees...

TCAD loses landfill lawsuit at cost of nearly $1 million

Five local government agencies collecting property taxes will have to refund taxes already paid, plus interest What’s the true value of acreage used as a...

Lawsuit Seeks Property Tax Hearings

Chief appraiser moves to prevent discovery, motions to compel hearings set for Thursday A lawsuit claims that scores of property owners were denied their legal...

Lawsuit Alleges Open Meetings Violation

 Lawsuit Alleges Open Meetings Violation

Yet another instance of agenda posting
not sufficiently detailed for public notice

by Ken Martin
© The Austin Bulldog 2017
Posted Tuesday June 6, 2017 3:00pm

Potential Plaintiff to City of Austin: Like to settle instead of getting sued?

City to Plaintiff: No thank you.

The plaintiff in the latest lawsuit against the City of Austin made a settlement offer before filing the litigation and gave the City 45 days to accept one of two options: (1) Cancel the City Council’s approval given November 10, 2016, and repost with proper notice of the proposed waivers of sections of two city ordinances. Or (2) Accept an Agreed Judgment.

By not responding to the offer, the City will have to face off in court.

Bill AleshireThe lawsuit, Lake Austin Collective Inc. v. City of Austin (Cause No. D-1-GN-17-002447) was filed in Travis County District Court yesterday by Austin attorney Bill Aleshire of Aleshire Law PC.

Anne MorganCity Attorney Anne Morgan did not respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit and instead funneled a written statement through a City spokesperson: “The City of Austin appreciates having had the opportunity to review the issue before the plaintiffs filed the lawsuit, but we disagree with Mr. Aleshire’s interpretation of the Texas Open Meetings Act.

“We believe the City gave appropriate public notice about the subject matter to be discussed. In fact, the record shows that this issue had a robust public engagement process,” the statement said.

Aleshire disagrees.

“The City Attorney said the same thing about the Pilot Knob open meetings lawsuit and lost. The ‘robust’ discussion of environmental waiver the City claims occurred did not start with or ever involve the boards and commissions before the Council let the Champion developer slip those waivers (of the Lake Austin Watershed Ordinance and Hill Country Roadway Ordinances) in on third reading. Part of the robust engagement process was just trying to find out what kind of backroom deal the developer and the Council majority was cooking up.”