HOUSTON - The Houston Independent School District offers a simple reason why a discrimination lawsuit brought by a gay teacher should be tossed - because it was never delivered.
A Jan. 28 motion to dismiss in Houston federal court argues insufficient service of process of Nestor Londono's lawsuit, filed Nov. 27. Londono, a gay man, was a longtime teacher at Lyons Elementary School who says he was well-liked by his peers but things changed in 2018 when Olivia Casares was hired as principal.
HISD general counsel Catosha Woods submitted an affidavit in support of dismissing Londono's case. She says on Jan. 7, she was served with a two-page federal summons that referenced Londono's case.
"Once I accepted service, the process server left the legal suite," Woods says.
"The summons did not include a copy of any lawsuit that Mr. Londono had filed against HISD."
Upon realizing this, Woods says she quickly ran to the hallway to catch the process server at an elevator. She asked if there were any other documents he was supposed to serve on HISD.
"After reviewing something on his cellular phone, he confirmed that he had only been given the two pages and that there were no additional documents," Woods says.
This violates the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(5), the motion to dismiss says.
Londono's case says Casares was "extremely unpleasant, unprofessional and unapproachable to Mr. Londono and made inappropriate and openly biased comments against the LGBTQ community to Mr. Londono and other faculty."
Academic standards fell during her reign, Londono said. He added she dismissed his input and "overloaded" him with work that wasn't his job. She is alleged to have called Londono "different" and "disgusting," plus referred to him as a woman.
"In countless meetings where Mr. Londono was present, Ms. Casares would address the entire audience as all 'ladies,'" the suit says.
Her alleged homophobia also targeted a lesbian teacher, the suit says. Londono filed an ethics complaint in May 2023, which led to an investigation that found his claims unsubstantiated.
Allegedly, he was told to either resign from HISD or move to a different school. He transferred to Coop Elementary School but says he was treated unfairly there, too. He filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Earlier this year, he was accused of calling a student a "monkey" and telling them they needed a shower. He calls this claim "fabricated." He was fired in April.
Terrence Robinson of TB Robinson Law Group represents Londono. It remains to be seen if the delivery error will doom his case or if he can offer an explanation that will be sympathetic to the presiding judge.
"Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4 requires the plaintiff to serve the defendant with a copy of the lawsuit in order for service to be effective," HISD's motion says.
"District courts 'cannot exercise jurisdiction over a defendant [who] has not been served properly.' 'In the absence of valid service of process, proceedings against a party are void.'"
Paul Lamp of Spalding Nichols Lamp Langlois represents HISD.