City of El Paso response asks for lawsuit filed by Chief Internal Auditor to be dismissed

ABC 7
By Sam Harasimowicz
January 19, 2024 11:13 PM
Published January 19, 2024 7:36 PM

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) - The City of El Paso has submitted a response to the a lawsuit filed by Chief Internal Auditor Edmundo Calderon.

The defendants involved in this specific response are the City of El Paso, City Attorney Karla Neiman, City Rep. Cassandra Hernandez, former City Manager Tommy Gonzalez, Deborah Paz and Juan Gonzalez.

In the City's response, they are asking that the lawsuit's claims under the Texas Whistleblower Act to be "dismissed for lack of jurisdiction".

Laura Enriquez, the attorney representing Calderon, explained that there are instances where the City can claim lack of jurisdiction because the City would have immunity. However, Enriquez said in this case, under the Texas Whistleblower Act, the Texas statute says they have waived immunity. The City's response reads, "[The City of El Paso] may not be sued unless the Legislature of the State of Texas specifically waives its immunity."

The City's response also includes a point claiming that Calderon's lawsuit "fails to allege a violation of [The Texas Whistleblower Act] because from the facts plead, he did not report a violation of the law to the El Paso police.

ABC-7 asked Enriquez about that claim, to which she responded, "He was there for video, when he's there the police tell him, hey, this is credit card abuse. This is all sorts of criminal things by, you know, city representatives. And that's when he realizes and you can see from the police report that he is a reporter. And you can see from the report that, you know, they're investigating a potential crime."

The response from the Defendants also claims that civil penalties or damages cannot be claimed by Calderon. The petition filed by Calderon's attorney responded by saying the claim is "a lack of capacity and defect in parties."

ABC-7 reached out to the City of El Paso, and were sent this response by city spokeswoman Laura Cruz-Acosta, "We appreciate the opportunity to respond but respectfully decline as this is still an active lawsuit."