PAUL FOURT SUBS FOR PHIL BELLAMY AT MUNICIPAL COURT

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

With Asst. Municipal Judge Phil Bellamy temporarily indisposed with illness, Chief Municipal Judge Bobby Lerma has tapped Paul L. Fourt - on one of the attorneys in his law office - to sub as needed on a contract basis.

Bellamy, who rook medical leave late last week, is still under contract, sources say, and will return as soon as he recovers. The nature of his illness has not been disclosed.
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When local attorneys learned that Fourt had been tapped to sub for Bellamy, some thought that a group of female lawyers who had threatened to sue after no women were chosen to fill two asst. judge positions would object. However, once it was learned that the appointment was on a temporary basis, no objections had arisen from the group.

In his Texas State Bar site, he lists his practice areas as  Business, Criminal, Litigation: Personal Injury, Real Estate, and Juvenile. Fourt, for being lawyer, apparently is camera shy since no photos are available either on the Texas State Bar site or in any other site we found listing his law practice.

He also lists Spanish as "foreign language assistance," a claim disputed by some local attorneys who have worked with him in the local courts.

By now, the Lerma office at 1000 Van Buren St. is being seen as a municipal judge incubator since attorney Ben Neece, now City of Brownsville commissioner, also practices at the same office and was also the chief municipal judge before Lerma was tapped for the job. When Neece retired from the city to become commissioner, Lerma was named as his replacement.

According to the municipal court mission statement, as municipal judge Fourt jurisdiction is  "to process and adjudicate cases that are filed in the court including Class C misdemeanor violations, parking, state traffic codes and city ordinance."