Here's the situation...

Our county has a former employee who was terminated for having an improper relationship with a juvenile offender. As a result, she also has pending criminal charges.

She has recently retained counsel to presumably sue the county for wrongful termination and has sent a letter seeking, among other things, all written statements regarding the allegations and all documents relating to the investigation (ie: all criminal discovery).

We would like to file a TRO to stop our civil attorneys from having to give over that information as it circumvents the criminal discovery process. Does anyone have a form for doing so? If so, please e-mail me at the address below.

Thanks in advance for your help!
kcomte@co.brazos.tx.us

Isn't this just a matter to be dealt with once the lawsuit is filed? Then, you will have available such devices as Rule 176.3(b); 176.6 (d)(e), 176.7; 190.2 (c); 192.3 (a); 192.4; 192.5 (b)(2); 192.6; 193.3 and so forth. I would think the items you refer to are not possessed or controlled by Brazos County anyway (but rather the State of Texas).

Rely on someone other than me for civil advice (Like Martin or Scott Brumley in Amarillo), but remember you have a law enforcement exception if they make any open records act requests, which is something I have seen before in similar situations.

The only problem is that rather than a lawsuit, right now, all we have is essentially a "demand letter" asking for all of the documents so she can start by going through the appeals process with the county. We'd like to try to avoid giving over the information at this point rather than waiting until an actual suit is filed.

If it was truly a demand letter (signifying an intent to sue the county or one of its officers), you can resist any PIA request under section 552.103 (commonly referred to as "the litigation exception") of the Government Code. If not, it sounds like you have a claim to the section 552.108 (law enforcement records) exception, given that the investigation/prosecution is pending and ongoing. You will need to seek an AG's decision within 10 business days of receipt of the request to successfully invoke the PIA exceptions.

Until she files suit, there would be no generic right to discovery. Instead, she would have to file a verified petition under Tex. R. Civ. P. 202.2 to obtain court permission to depose any of the witnesses based on a finding that the deposition(s) is/are necessary to prevent a failure or delay of justice in the anticipated suit and that the benefit of the requested deposition outweighs the burden or expense thereof.

If they have asked for the entire file held by the DA's office, remember also that the Texas Supremes have said the makeup of a DA's litigation file itself reveals work product and, as such, it's protected from discovery. Thus, if litigation is pending, you could serve a statement that the information is being withheld on the basis of the work product privilege, and be prepared to serve a "privilege log" under Tex. R. Civ. P. 193.3(b) if requested to do so by the plaintiff.