IS EMILIO MONTES BLOGGER WIGHTMAN'S ALTER EGO?

By Juan Montoya
All of a sudden, Emilio Montes has become a legal eagle.
Whether it's firing off complaints against local attorneys to the Texas State Bar Disciplinary Section, filing for damages to his Harley-Davidson for restitution through the Victims Assistance section of the Cameron County District Attorney's Office, or , now, a petition for damages in JP 2-1 Court against a motorist for allegedly running over him and his bike, he seems to be pleadng everywhere.
And what's more, he has developed a knack for handling legal forms and even wrote his own petition which he filed Aug 3 in Linda Salazar's JP 2-1 court for an accident that happened May 16.
Now, if you know Emilio or have seen him riding around downtown on his bike, you know he's no lawyer.
In fact, he's just a nice guy to have a beer with over a football or basketball game. He likes the Cowboys and the Spurs.
That's why it seems odd to see his name pop up on all kinds of legal documents.
We first saw his name mentioned in private emails between Cameron County District Attorney's Office PIO Melissa Zamora and local blogger Robert Wightman. In one email, Wightman asks Zamora about the restitution claim that "my nephew" Emilio Montes filed in relation to an incident at the Sportsman Bar downtown and the damage to his Harley he said a drunk had done to it when the club ran him out the back door and locked it to keep him from reentering. No one, not even Montes in his video statement to police, said they saw Montes damage the bikes parked in the HEB parking lot in the back.
Montes claimed that the damage amounted to a little over $3,000. Since the criminal mischief felony charge against the defendant (Hector Negrete) was dismissed, Montes did not get the cash he wanted even with the intervention of Uncle Bobby.

Montes then filed a complaint with the Chief Disciplinary Counsel of the Texas State Bar alleging, among other things, that Negrete's court-appointed attorney Louis Sorola's $500 donation to a D.A. Luis Saenz's campaign fundraiser amounted to a bribe. Now, Sorola – like all attorneys – gets paid $200 for a court-appointment. So he was out $300 on the deal if Wightman's (or was it nephew Montes'?) assumption was correct.
State Bar Assistant Disciplinary Counsel K.W. Morgan notified the parties after considering the complaint that "this office has examined the the grievance (filed April 20 against Sorola) and determined that the information alleged does not demonstrate professional misconduct or a disability. Pursuant to the Texas Rules of Disciplinary Procedure, this matter has therefore been classified as an inquiry and has been dismissed."
Miffed, Montes (or was it Unk?) filed an appeal to the dismissal, something no one had heard of. (Now, how would a lowly biker in good ol' Browntown know about this legal stratagem?) That will probably drag on and on and on....
Well, the latest case involving the Montes' obviously hexed Harley-Davidson was filed in Salazar's JP court by Montes (or was it Uncle Bobby?) alleging that he was struck by a woman as he rode on Highway 48 near the Jack in the Box at the corner of the Price Road intersection.
His version indicates that the woman ran a red light, ran him down, and caused about (ready for this?) about $3,000 in damages to said Harley (actually, $2,663.42, to be exact).
Well, the answer that the woman filed in the case after she was served with the lawsuit gives quite different version.
In her response, she said she within two months of delivering her baby and got the urge for a Jack-in-the-Box hamburger at about 3 a.m. She states that she drove from her Armstrong Court home – even though she had no license – and that she turned into the restaurant from the turning lane on a green light when she saw Montes on his Harley driving toward her on the northbound lane of 48. She said that he struck the rear bumper of her car as she was halfway into the driveway of the restaurant parking lot.
"I saw Mr. Montes trying to pick up his motorcycle behind my car. I asked him several times if he was OK. He did not respond."
She then tried to flag down a passing policeman but the patrol car did not stop and asked Montes at least five times if he wanted her to call the police. Montes told her not to call the police, she said.
She then called her mother who told her to call the police and she told her that Montes did not want her to. Instead, Montes kept asking whether her insurance could cover the damage to his bike.
Her mother arrived on the scene and told her to call the police at which time she states that "Mr. Montes made a growel (sic) from within and began to pace and look angry."
He asked the mother for her name and number and started to walk away.
"As he walked away, he stumbled and my mother asked him if he had been drinking and he turned and replied 'yes ma'am, looked at her and went on and got on his Harley and road (sic) away."
In a few days, she said she received a demand letter from Montes' "desk" stating "to pay the damages of $10,000 and if I didn't he would take me to court."
"I just had a baby...I don't think I was at fault because he struck my car and he was drinking. I was just hungry...He refused to call  PD at the time of the accident because it was 3:00 a.m. and he had been drinking and he was just heading home and happened to hit my car on the way."
According to her, Montes made statements to her mother to the effect that the motorcycle was not harmed, that the saddlebags buckles had only been scraped, and "something about a foot rest. He told he the windshield had fallen off, but that he was able to put it back on and that the only thing that happened to him was a scraped elbow and that he was not going to go to the hospital for a scraped elbow.
In the price quote for the "damaged" parts he got from Mad Boar Harley-Davidson, he lists parts (including the saddlebags), fork, hand-control lever, a chrome wheel, plus labor to come up with the $2,663 total.
Salazar's court has not scheduled a date for Montes' petition for damages.
And why Salazar's court?

If you have had the dubious pleasure of reading Uncle Wightman's blog, he has on several occasions heaped praise on her for her professionalism in attending to his questions and needs. Lawyers call this forum shopping, but in Wightman's case (or is it Montes?) it only made sense to go there since Uncle Bobby has made a firm down payment in the form of praise and flattery for Herroner.
Wightman probably extend him the courtesy of allowing him to represent his nephew even though he is a disbarred attorney. JP Benny Ochoa learned of that too late and let him do it. Now he wishes he hadn't.
In addition to the $2,663.42, our suddenly erudite legal scholar Montes also asks for triple punitive damages from the young mother for negligence, bringing the total to a grand total of $7,990.86. The car's insurance is in her father's name.
He also wants Salzalzar to cancel her license (she has since gotten one) and to pay for court costs.
This is the second time that a bill for $3,000 is being claimed for Montes' Harley. Are there others?
After a document search, we came across a hospital lien filed April 20, 2012 by Valley Baptist against Montes for $26,315 because he was "admitted to the hospital for treatment of injury or injuries within 72 hours of a motor vehicle accident which happened or or about April 7, 2012 in Cameron County. Texas which has been attributed to the negligence of Unknown whose address is unknown."
There's that word "negligence" again.
The full $26,315 was paid in full and the lien released on January 18, 2013. Did the "unknown" negligent party's insurance pay the bill as part of a settlement with Montes? And what role did Uncle Bobby play in that deal?
If we were the young mother in the case filed in Linda Salazar's court, we hope when she appears in court she has a good lawyer with her. Failure to appear would probably result in a default judgement against her and for Montes.
There seems to be a pattern and practice in all these filings that smacks of an insurance scam. Let's hope our Cameron County Da's Office gets out of the reelction mode for a bit and gets onto this.