CATY SUES SALAZAR, WIFE, AND ESCOBEDO FOR DEFAMATION

By Juan Montoya
With one day left before election day for four places on the board of the Brownsville Independent

School District, Jaime Escobedo, a vendor of the district as well as BISD general counsel Baltazar Salazar may be wishing that the thousands they spent to beat trustee Caty Presas-Garcia do not result in her defeat.

Salazar, wife Maria, and Jaime Escobedo, who does business with the BISD providing armored-car services, among other things, are named along with the treasurer of the Brownsville Taxpayers Political Action Committee (BTPAC) listed as Juan Flores Leal, in a defamation lawsuit filed Friday by Mission attorney Frank Garza.
In her lawsuit (2016-DCL-07379) filed Friday, Presas-Garcia says the defendants engaged in a conspiracy to publish false information in an attempt to defeat her in her reelection bid for the board of the BISD.

Specifically, Presas-Garcia charges that Escobedo paid for an advertisement that was published in the Brownsville Herald on Wednesday, Nov. 2, that stated that she had been sued by the BISD for delinquent taxes knowing that to be false.
She also charged that the BTPAC – funded solely by defendant Salazar – paid for at least three mass mailings, one of which repeated the false claim that she and her husband had not paid their school property taxes.

In her lawsuit, she says that the documentation provided by Escobedo to the newspaper contained case numbers that he asserted referred to Presas-Garcia. The cause numbers provided the Herald as documentation for the ad were: Cause 2008-07-4311-C which was non-suited in 2008, and Cause 2008-07-3858-C, for 1999, 2001, 2003, and 2006.

The property in question actually belonged to Catalina Loya Garcia, of 554 Florence , Brownsville Texas.


In the Nov. 2 ad, Escobedo – under his own name – says he could forgive Presas-Garcia for "being delinquent on your BISD property taxes."
A subsequent publishing of the same ad in the newspaper indicates that the offending comments of tax delinquency with the BISD were removed.

That is the same assertion made by the BTPAC in at least one of three massive mailouts that arrived in residents' homes before and during the early voting period for the BISD election.
In that one, the mailout asserts that Presas-Garcia was "sued by Cameron County for delinquent property taxes owed. And she was sued by BISD for delinquent property taxes, WOW!


In her lawsuit, Presas-Garcia says the assertions on taxes were defamatory. "The statement was defamatory because it unambiguously and maliciously asserts an act that is false in order to discredit and tarnish the reputation of the Plaintiff."

But it is the hidden hand of board counsel Salazar and the PAC that is cited by Presas-Garcia in her lawsuit which she says indicates that a conspiracy was hatched to sabotage her reelection chances. The address listed as "residence or office" of the BTPAC's treasurer Flores Leal in the finance report to the Texas Ethics Commission was first listed as 9245 N. Iowa Road, in Brownsville, an empty lot for sale. That lot was listed as a property being sold by Liz Realty. That firm is owned by Liz Vera, a BISD teacher and Salazar's sister.

Later, after social media disclosed that no such person lived at the Iowa Road address and that it even lacked a mailbox, the second TEC finance report filed on the eighth day before the election showed that address had changed to 9574 Ravensworth, in Houston. A check of the Harris County Appraisal District showed that the property belongs to Baltazar and Maria Salazar. Later research showed that the house was vacant than that the electric meter had been removed. There was no trace that the person listed as BTPAC treasurer – Juan Flores Leal – had ever lived at either one of the locations.


In her lawsuit, Presas-Garcia asks for simple and special damages.
"Defendants' false statements caused injury to Plaintiff, which resulted in the following damages: injury to character or reputation, injury to feelings, mental anguish. Further, since Defendants are liable for defamation per se Plaintiff is presumed to be entitled to these general damages. Additionally, as special damages, Defendants are liable to Plaintiff for loss of past and future earnings caused by Defendants' false statements.

"Furthermore, Plaintiff's injuries resulted from Defendants' malice, which entitles Plaintiff to
exemplary damages under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code..."

Presas-Garcia said that she is also pursuing a complaint against Salazar with the TEC for submitting false information for a PAC and with the Texas State Bar for unethical conduct. 

As we said at the start, Salazar and Escobedo may now wish that the thousands they spent in their effort to defeat Presas-Garcia's re-election bid will fail. Otherwise, they're on the hook for some big bucks.