By Juan Montoya
You've heard of forum shopping, where attorneys look for a friendly court or jurisdiction where to file their cases.
Now we hear that forum selling may be the next target of federal p
rosecutors who have been successful in getting guilty pleas in the judicial corruption case involving former 404th District Court Judge Abel C. Limas.
Prosecutors and court observers are wondering how it was that the multi-million dollar personal injury and fraud cases landed in Limas's court. They also wonder how it was that specific attorneys involved in teh cases handled by convicted former state representative Jim Solis and his associate Mark Rosenthal, of Austin, always seem to land in the 404th.
All leads are pointing to the District Clerk's office, observers say. Now they wonder whether someone in District Clerk Aurora de la Garza was taking money for funneling cases to the friendly Limas court.
"It's no coincidence that these cases involving these attorneys and carrying large judgements landed in Limas's court," said a court observer. "The word out in the legal community is that someone was getting paid for placing them there. They figure it's hte next target for the feds as they squeeze the persons suspected in these cases."
The two civil lawsuits in which Limas received bribes in exchange for favorable rulings are the Maria Guadalupe Garcia, individually, et al. vs. Metro Aviation, Inc., et al., and the case of Juan Antonio Coronado and Francisco Solis Ramirez vs. Peter Zavaletta, et al.
Solis was involved in the Garcia case and made two payments of $50,000 and one of $85,000 to Limas. He was associated with Rosenthal in that case as well as in the other case involving local attorney Peter Zavaletta and the Brownsville Herald.
In the Garcia case, the family of a nurse and a paramedic who died in a helicopter crash in the Laguna Madre received $9 million. Solis is said to have acted as a conduit for attorney Rosenthal. In the Zavaletta case, he is said to have paid Limas for favorable rulings. That case is still under appeal and includes the Brownsville Herald for having published an ad with the names of persons accused of child abuse or molestation.
Solis’ sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 1.
De la Garza is also directly involved in the case involving her son Joey who was charged with embezzling more than $83,000 from a hospice in Olmito where he served as an administrator.
The younger de la Garza was not arrested by the Cameron County Sheriff, was arraigned, tried and sentenced to pay restitution and deferred adjudication in Limas's court all in one hour on a Friday afternoon.
"Who decided that the case should be heard by Limas, who had been beaten by Elia Cornejo-Lopez and was a lame-duck judge?" a local attorney asked. "We're always told that it's the luck of the draw which court hears our cases. That sure doesn't seem like the luck of the draw to me."
You've heard of forum shopping, where attorneys look for a friendly court or jurisdiction where to file their cases.
Now we hear that forum selling may be the next target of federal p
rosecutors who have been successful in getting guilty pleas in the judicial corruption case involving former 404th District Court Judge Abel C. Limas.Prosecutors and court observers are wondering how it was that the multi-million dollar personal injury and fraud cases landed in Limas's court. They also wonder how it was that specific attorneys involved in teh cases handled by convicted former state representative Jim Solis and his associate Mark Rosenthal, of Austin, always seem to land in the 404th.
All leads are pointing to the District Clerk's office, observers say. Now they wonder whether someone in District Clerk Aurora de la Garza was taking money for funneling cases to the friendly Limas court.
"It's no coincidence that these cases involving these attorneys and carrying large judgements landed in Limas's court," said a court observer. "The word out in the legal community is that someone was getting paid for placing them there. They figure it's hte next target for the feds as they squeeze the persons suspected in these cases."
The two civil lawsuits in which Limas received bribes in exchange for favorable rulings are the Maria Guadalupe Garcia, individually, et al. vs. Metro Aviation, Inc., et al., and the case of Juan Antonio Coronado and Francisco Solis Ramirez vs. Peter Zavaletta, et al.
Solis was involved in the Garcia case and made two payments of $50,000 and one of $85,000 to Limas. He was associated with Rosenthal in that case as well as in the other case involving local attorney Peter Zavaletta and the Brownsville Herald.
In the Garcia case, the family of a nurse and a paramedic who died in a helicopter crash in the Laguna Madre received $9 million. Solis is said to have acted as a conduit for attorney Rosenthal. In the Zavaletta case, he is said to have paid Limas for favorable rulings. That case is still under appeal and includes the Brownsville Herald for having published an ad with the names of persons accused of child abuse or molestation.
Solis’ sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 1.
De la Garza is also directly involved in the case involving her son Joey who was charged with embezzling more than $83,000 from a hospice in Olmito where he served as an administrator.
The younger de la Garza was not arrested by the Cameron County Sheriff, was arraigned, tried and sentenced to pay restitution and deferred adjudication in Limas's court all in one hour on a Friday afternoon.
"Who decided that the case should be heard by Limas, who had been beaten by Elia Cornejo-Lopez and was a lame-duck judge?" a local attorney asked. "We're always told that it's the luck of the draw which court hears our cases. That sure doesn't seem like the luck of the draw to me."
Zavaletta and the Brownsville Herald are appealing the case charging that Limas and Solis have admitted in their pleas with the government that bribes had been paid to get favorable rulings.
6 comments:
Aurora de la Garza is so connected with the Limas fiasco. Aurora and her relatives seem to control county government. If the FEDS go after Aurora then some big fish might fry. Sitting judges who have "kept quiet" about what case goes to what judge...are surely scared. I believe all sitting judges know there is a worm in the apple, and that Aurora is the main middle-man for the Democratic Party....the key corruptors. All elected officials from Cameron County know of the corruption, but if they benefit from it they shut up and if they are scared of it, they shut up. The name of the game is CYA...and that game is played will in Cameron County.
Add the Amit Lvingston criminal case and the Amit Livingston civil case as two other high profile cases just happened to land in Limas court. Imagine the odds of that happening randomly. You're missing who (else) is common to each case...besides Limas and de la garza.
Who?
If I were a judge in South Texas I would not want to touch the Limas case. Since the majority of judges are Democrats and depend on the corrupt Democratic Party organization to get elected, none should want to touch this case. Many of the Appeals court judges have come up through the corrupt ranks of the Democratic Party and open their careers to scrutiny if they look to take the case. All judges in Texas should be vetted financially while holding office.
QUESTION: You're missing who (else) is common to each case...besides Limas and de la garza?
ANSWER: Mandito's ASSistant
(what's it's name) the one that just quit.
Mandito's assistand -- What about Mandito himself???
Post a Comment