A Texas appeals court has sided with the city of McAllen in a dispute over a street excavation and repaving project, concluding that neither the city’s mayor nor its commissioners can be ordered to attend mediation to resolve the underlying lawsuit.
The 13th District Court of Appeals on Monday ruled that a trial court had abused its discretion by ordering the city’s mayor and one of its commissioners to attend a mediation session to resolve issues in a lawsuit brought against the city and two contractors by residents Matthew Crocker and Marianna Wright.
The lawsuit alleged negligence by Artillery LLC and Cutler Repaving Inc., as well as a cause of action of inverse condemnation by the city, after the work on the 1300 block of Highland Avenue in North McAllen led to flooding and damage to the real parties’ properties, according to the appeals court’s ruling.
The city agreed to a second mediation with both the city engineer and a city management personnel in attendance, but McAllen officials objected that the trial court’s mandating who would have to attend the mediation, arguing that the plaintiffs’ “attempt to compel the attendance of elected officials is nothing more than harassment and in no way increases the chances of settlement,” the appeals court’s opinion states.
The court concluded that high-ranking local government officials could not be required to attend mediation proceedings without “compelling reasons” due in part to the state’s underlying apex deposition doctrine.
“Ultimately, the real parties (the opposing party at the trial court level) have not offered any evidence showing that the city representatives who will attend mediation lack the requisite authority to settle the suit,” the justices said, “and they have not offered compelling reasons that would require the presence of the mayor and a commissioner at mediation.”
The appeals court called on the trial court to vacate its Aug. 14 order with the attendance mandates. The attorney for the plaintiffs had argued that having high-ranking local officials attend the mediation was needed because the defense side might opt not to have someone with proper authority at the meeting in a bid to avoid settling the case.