Court dismisses former Tarrant County associate judge’s political retaliation lawsuit
A federal judge tossed a lawsuit from a former Tarrant County associate judge who claimed she was told to muzzle her husband because of his political speech and that when she did not she was fired.
Diane Scott Haddock claimed in her lawsuit that when she did not get her husband, Gerald Haddock, to cease his political activities, she became the target of a conspiracy led by State District Judge Patricia Baca Bennett to get her fired.
During the 2018 Republican Primary campaign, Baca Bennett allegedly supported James Munford, the man who eventually won the 322nd District Court race, while Gerald Haddock supported Munford’s primary opponent.
About the same time, William Harris, the presiding judge in the court where Haddock was an associate judge, decided not to run for re-election and Kenneth Newell was elected to that position. Haddock received a termination order signed by a majority of the seven family court judges on Jan. 4.
Dismissing the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled that Haddock, because of her position, has no First Amendment protection from patronage dismissal and was an at-will employee, and also ruled that Baca-Bennett was protected from the lawsuit by qualified immunity.
Gerald Haddock invoked the spirit of Antonin Scalia when asked about O’Connor’s order. Scalia was a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice until his death in 2016.
“What would Scalia say?” Gerald Haddock asked. “Really, she has no First Amendment protection? She is a U.S. citizen.”
O’Connor said in his ruling that an associate judge must be in a position to carry out the policy set by the district judge while also operating as an adviser to the district judge.
The family court judges argued that Haddock held a position as an associate judge for which their trust in the associate judge’s loyalty was required, O’Connor’s order states.
Haddock claimed in her lawsuit that Baca Bennett created a hostile work environment for her and retaliated against her because she failed to muzzle her husband’s political commentary on social media as Baca Bennett requested.
Haddock also named Tarrant County in her lawsuit because she said she complained to Tarrant County officials and no one did anything to address the circumstances she outlined.
Haddock called and then wrote to Tina Glenn, Tarrant County’s director of human resources, who told her during a phone call that she cannot, “make people be nice,” O’Connor’s order said.
O’Connor ruled that the family court judges named in the lawsuit were not Tarrant County employees and that county officials had no power or authority regarding their actions. The state district judges are state employees, O’Connor said in his ruling.
O’Connor also ruled that Haddock presented insufficient evidence of a claim against the parties named in her lawsuit.
The attorney representing Baca Bennett, Benjamin Walton, an assistant attorney with the Texas Attorney General’s Office, declined to comment on the dismissal of Haddock’s suit.
The attorneys representing Tarrant County, M. Keith Ogle and David Hudson, and the attorney representing Haddock, Walt Taylor, did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.
