Several Shenandoah council members and city personnel have been sued in their individual capacities for alleged slander and violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA). Attorney Frank Powell filed the lawsuit in Harris County on March 9, 2022, seeking an unspecified amount of monetary damages and a public apology, but he did not include the city of Shenandoah as a defendant.

 

This defamation case arose from statements made during (and after) the January 26 city council meeting earlier this year. The defendants are former Mayor Ritch Wheeler, councilmen Ron Raymaker and Ted Fletcher, current Mayor John Escoto, city administrator Kathie Reyer, city attorney Bill Ferebee, lieutenant Jacob Reuvers and communications manager Debbie Pilcher. Councilmen Charlie Bradt and Mike McLeod are not named in the suit.

 

Powell spoke during citizens forum and said he had made several attempts to file a complaint regarding a “corrupt” officer (Reuvers) for about one year but the city refused to accept it and is therefore violating its own policy.

 

About 30 minutes later during council inquiry, councilman Fletcher said it was “ludicrous” for Powell to bring accusations against the city attorney and police department. He said everybody knows about the accident which happened in Shenandoah, but the city is too small to investigate itself and Powell’s client is his wife who is in jail for killing people on the highway.

 

After Fletcher spoke, Reyer asked if she could add something and stated that Powell’s goal is to discredit lieutenant Reuvers to get his wife out of prison.

 

Fletcher and Reyer were referring to Nichole Baukus who pled guilty to two counts of vehicular manslaughter in 2013. Her pending appeal includes allegations of police misconduct, planting of evidence and prosecutorial misconduct. Court documents filed on her behalf indicate multiple eyewitnesses placed her in the passenger seat at the time of the accident. According to public records, Reuvers was an officer called to the scene of the accident, although he was not employed by Shenandoah at that time.

 

The Shenandoah defendants filed a motion to dismiss Powell’s case on April 29 and argued that each of them were acting within the scope of employment and therefore immune from such suits under the Texas Tort Claims Act (TTCA). However, Powell argued the TTCA does not apply to intentional torts such as defamation, libel and slander. Judge Phillips of the 61st district court apparently agreed with Powell’s arguments and denied the motion to dismiss on June 14.

 

A week later, the defendants filed a second motion to dismiss, this time based on the Texas Citizens Participation Act. Powell then requested limited discovery, but before discovery could be scheduled, the defendants filed an interlocutory (accelerated) appeal of the court’s denial of their motion to dismiss.

 

A key question before the appellate court is whether the defendants were acting within the scope of their employment when they made their statements about Powell.

 

Further developments in the case will be reported as they become available.