I know that there is a way for a county to mediate a lawsuit without violating the OMA, but can't put my finger on it right now -

Can someone refresh my memory? Thanks,

Lisa L. Peterson
Nolan County Attorney

Can you not discuss the suit in executive session....and then come out and vote to allow the county judge , as an example, to meditate on behalf of the county not to exceed those parameters discussed in executive session....then if the mediation is sucessful, make medation results contigent on commissioners court vote approval containing the specifics which are approved in open session?
just an off the top thought...i havent had time to reseach it......
i looked many years ago when the county was sued and couldnt find a specific provivion that allowed the commissioners, all defendants individually and as a court, to leave the courtroom during a hearing to meet with the attorneys without potentially violating the act. it was a difficult way to try to have a hearing with immediate imput. the judge granted summary judgment for county, so we never got that far.
that was many years ago we had outside counsel but no good answer to that problem was found.
the attorneys simply spoke for the court on a counterclaim we had made for attys fees, representing to the judge that the county would waive those claims to end the suit since the summary judgment was granted....the commissioners ratified that decision at a later meeting that had been posted. it was an odd scenario, but it got the job done.
hope that helps. curious if you find something else.

That's where I was heading...the only other way I know of would be to post a C Court meeting and make them stay all day. Like that's a possibility!!!

Lisa L. Peterson
Nolan County Attorney

amazing how much more interested they are when they are named individually as well. Then they tend to stick around.

This is a federal suit based on the termination of an employee. They don't want to pay anything, I think it is marginally winnable - but at what cost? Mediation is the reasonable response...

Lisa L. Peterson
Nolan County Attorney

Take a look at United States v. City of Garland, 124 F.Supp.2d 442 (N.D. Tex. 2000). It may be illuminating for your purposes.

not sure after reading the case scott cited, there is enough money to pay all the experts if that case is any indication of your situation....wow
the trascription fee alone must have been huge.
Scott how does your court make litgation type decisions that might need to be made on the fly without posting a meeting?
Or is there a designated "Trigger man" (person)?

When we're ordered to mediation, we advise the judge up front that final settlement authority rests with the commissioners court, and their decision-making role in the settlement issue squarely implicates the Open Meetings Act. Thus, we move the court for partial relief in the form of the order providing that a quorum is not required and that ultimate approval of any preliminary settlement agreement reached must, in compliance with Texas law, take place at a subsequent, properly-noticed meeting of the commissioners court. So far, even our federal judge has been accommodating.

As you note, the commissioners court could decide under Local Government Code section 262.001 to appoint an agent to execute a contract for any legal purpose, presumably including settlement of litigation. But that decision is discretionary, and I think a court trying to order the commissioners to do so would run afoul of Ector County v. Stringer (holding that district court review of commissioners court provides jurisdiction to order commissioners court to exercise its discretion, but not to tell it what decision to make).

sounds like we are all on the same page. it crept up on us in our litigation as we didnt think there would be any issues that needed discussion at a summary judgment hearing...lesson learned.....it was a comical sight as the litigators were taking the c court to a conference room to discuss the one remaining issue in the suit and i was trying to catch them to stop what i perceived to be a potenital illegal meeting about to take place....got them stopped, but here is the kicker....they were being sued for an open meetings violation....
not sure how we would have defended that next suit.

Thankfully we are not under a court order for the mediation. This is the one I talked about a bit in Galveston...we have some issues w/ insurance and counsel so want to do what we can to end it. I think I'm going to tell my guys to discuss general limits and such in an appropriately posted closed session, come out and appoint 2 to represent them at mediation. Does that sound reasonable?

Lisa L. Peterson
Nolan County Attorney