Brownsville ISD statement reagarding settlement in lawsuits by Antonio Juarez and Hector Gonzales

BISD considered and voted to approve settlement in two lawsuits brought by a former BISD Superintendent and Chief Financial Officer concerning their former employment with the District. The Board took this action to avoid costly litigation that had a significant potential for damages and attorney’s fees far in excess of the settlement. It took this action in consultation and with the support of its employment practices liability insurer and the lawyers representing the District. The Board did not want to risk large jury verdicts and judgments, which would have to be paid from District funds; rather, it chose to pay a potentially much smaller amount from District funds. The potentially larger amount of several million dollars would have severely hampered BISD’s abilities to deliver its quality educational services to the students of Brownsville. The settlement monies paid by BISD will have an impact, but not at the disastrous level a jury and court could have awarded. The trial and appellate courts commented on the Juarez case extensively in writing in response to court filings by the Defendant BISD and individual Defendant Trustees and former Trustees to dismiss the lawsuits. The courts determined that there was a factual dispute, likely to be considered by the jury, of a conspiracy by trustees, former trustees, and employees to take action outside legally required methods to terminate or nonrenew the employment of Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Juarez. If the jury believed the plaintiff’s evidence, then it could have determined that trustees did not simply make the wrong employment decision but in fact acted illegally in a conspiracy to violate constitutional rights. The potential damages a jury could award under this scenario was the motivation for settling and for the insurer readily tendering the limits of its liability policy. The essential settlement terms dismiss all claims and lawsuits in exchange for payment to Mr. Gonzales of $800,000, the majority of which is to be paid by the insurer, engaging Mr. Gonzales as a consultant for the sum of $144,000 a year for two years, payment to Mr. Juarez of $700,000, the cost to be split equally between the insurer and BISD, and hiring Mr. Juarez under a two-year contract at an annual amount of $154,106, inclusive of salary, benefits, and insurance. The positions are working positions subject to termination for nonperformance. The payments include attorney’s fees. BISD is paying the above portions of the settlements because the insurer grouped these two lawsuits in the same policy year, along with another costly lawsuit settled last year involving the former administrator over Special Services, Art Rendon. The insurance companies assert that the claims are related, including the same type of alleged illegal conduct. BISD is disputing the insurers’ position that only one policy coverage year applies. All defendants benefit from the settlement by bringing this costly litigation to an end and by not exposing more public monies of the District and the personal finances of the individual Defendants. The settlement payments by the insurer will account for both the District and individuals.