HOUSTON – Back in May, Harris County tapped Chris Hollins to be its new clerk, an attorney the county had hired to represent it in two lawsuits. And even though Hollins says he “paused” his legal services to the county, the county is suing to keep his firm’s time and expense records from being disclosed to the public.
Last July, the Harris County Commissioners Court voted to hire the Hollins Law Group, as well as three other firms, on a contingent-fee basis to represent the county in litigation alleging it overpaid for insulin and other generic drugs due to a price-fixing scheme.
Ten months later, the commissioners court appointed Hollins as interim county clerk, creating a possible conflict of interest. The Texas Local Government Code prohibits counties from paying salaried officers fees for work performed outside of their regular duties.
As previously reported, local attorney Mark McCaig unearthed the representation agreement Hollins signed with Harris County and posted the details on Big Jolly Times.
“Hollins’ base hourly rate in his contract with Harris County is an eye-popping $900,” McCaig wrote. “I am not personally aware of any attorneys with just 5 years of experience that command a standard hourly billing rate of $900 per hour.”
Hollins previously told The Record he was “pausing” his legal services to the county and that none of his firm’s attorney will represent the county or receive compensation from the county while he serves as clerk.
Documents obtained by The Record show that McCaig made an open records request to the county shortly after exposing the contract, seeking all records related to any compensation it paid or plans to pay to Hollins and his firm for legal services rendered.
However, rather than fork over the records, Harris County turned to Attorney General Ken Paxton, who deemed Hollins’ legal invoices public information on Sept. 9, records show.
Two weeks later, Harris County filed suit against Paxton on Sept. 23, seeking to declare his decision “factually and legally erroneous.”
The county argues Paxton “ignored the fact” that there was a compelling reason to withhold the information from public disclosure: the legal invoices “may” contain information detailing the county’s strategy in the pending lawsuits.
Records show Harris County is suing to withhold include time and expense records kept by the Hollins Law Firm that Harris County’s contract with the firm specifically states are subject to disclosure under the Texas Public Information Act.
McCaig believes the county’s lawsuit is really an attempt to avoid transparency.
"It is incredibly disappointing, although not surprising, that Harris County would go to extraordinary lengths to avoid transparency involving the county's relationship with the private law firm of embattled County Clerk Chris Hollins,” McCaig said. “The public has a right to know how much work Hollins and his firm have done for the county and how much he stands to earn at the conclusion of the litigation where his firm was retained."
There’s another issue with Harris County’s lawsuit against Paxton – the county may have failed to give McCaig timely notice of the lawsuit, a requirement under Section 552.325 of the Texas Government Code.
"Even though state law required Harris County to make a timely good faith effort to notify me of this lawsuit, I was not notified until one month after the lawsuit was filed and that notification only occurred after I made an inquiry about the status of my request,” McCaig said. “As a Harris County resident and taxpayer, it is insulting that the county would act in such bad faith in order to evade transparency."
In the short time since becoming Harris County Clerk, Hollins has seen his name appear in a number of headlines throughout the state.
The state of Texas openly waged a legal battle against Hollins to stop him from sending millions of unsolicited mail-in ballot applications to registered voters.
An alleged mail-in ballot harvesting scheme in Harris County also may have been the reason behind why Hollins’ predecessor, Diane Troutman, left in the first place.
Hollins and his firm were also recently accused of barratry (ambulance chasing) in lawsuit filed in late August.