Paxton whistle-blowers awarded $6.7 million judgment

Published 5:30 am Sunday, April 6, 2025

AUSTIN — A Travis County judge on Friday awarded nearly $6.7 million to four whistle-blowers who reported Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to law enforcement in 2020 for alleged criminal conduct.

“The Court finds that Plaintiffs have proved liability, damages, and reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees by a preponderance of the evidence,” District Court Judge Catherine Mauzy wrote. “Because the Office of the Attorney General violated the Texas Whistleblower Act by firing and otherwise retaliating against the Plaintiffs for in good faith reporting violations of law by Ken Paxton and OAG, the Court hereby renders judgment for Plaintiffs.”

In a statement, Paxton said he would appeal the ruling.

The sum is more than double the $3.3 million Paxton’s office agreed to pay in a 2023 settlement the Legislature declined to fund during that session. Lawmakers also would need to approve funding for the state to satisfy this judgment.

Tom Nesbitt, an attorney representing one of the whistle-blowers, called on the Legislature to “do the honorable thing and fund the judgment so these brave public servants can be compensated for the lost pay and damages they suffered when Paxton illegally terminated their employment.”

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick declined Thursday to say whether the Legislature should fund a judgment this session.

The judgment awarded Friday includes compensation for lost wages, pain and suffering, attorney fees, court costs and interest for James “Blake” Brickman, David Maxwell, Mark Penley and Ryan Vassar, who sued Paxton’s office in November 2020 after they were fired.

They alleged their terminations violated the Texas Whistleblower Act, which prohibits retaliation against public employees who report a violation of law in good faith. They were among eight top aides who reported Paxton to the FBI and other law enforcement.

The whistle-blowers accused Paxton of using his powerful office to benefit Nate Paul, a real estate investor and campaign contributor who pleaded guilty in January to a federal charge of making false statements to a financial institution and is scheduled to be sentenced later this month.

In return, they alleged, Paul renovated Paxton’s Austin home and employed a woman Paxton was reportedly seeing.

Paxton was impeached by the Texas House in 2023 but acquitted by the Senate after a two-week trial.

In his statement Friday, Paxton blamed the “sham” impeachment on former House Speaker Dade Phelan, a Republican, and the Justice Department in President Joe Biden’s administration.

A recent audit found the impeachment process cost Texas taxpayers $5 million.

“Now a liberal Austin judge wants the people of Texas to pay even more for the Phelan/Biden corrupt impeachment scheme with a ridiculous judgment that is not based on the facts or the law,” Paxton said.

The attorney general avoided a deposition in the whistle-blower case by agreeing to end the lawsuit and pledging not to contest the damages or liability.

The whistle-blowers requested $6.7 million in damages at a February hearing. Their attorneys provided supplemental evidence to the reasonableness and necessity of their fees last week.

Mauzy said if the whistle-blowers successfully defend or prosecute an appeal from the attorney general’s office, they’re entitled to recover from the agency up to $90,000 each in attorney fees.