Tarrant district clerk reaches settlement in 10-year lawsuit over charging poor litigants
Tarrant County district clerk Tom Wilder has settled a 10-year lawsuit that alleged he charged court fees to indigent litigants.
Tarrant County commissioners voted to pay $150,000 in attorney fees during their July 18 meeting.
Wilder called the settlement a “win for the taxpayers.” The money for the attorney fees comes from the District Clerk Liability Fund mandated by the Legislature, Wilder said.
“This settles all claims with no mention of liability,” Wilder said.
“All I did was follow the advice of our attorneys and the county auditor who said I could collect the fees and that I must collect, and that’s what I did,” Wilder said.
Lee DiFilippo, the lead attorney representing the seven Tarant County residents who sued Wilder said in a news release that Texans will benefit if more attorneys are willing to challenge the unlawful actions of public officials.
“I sincerely hope the outcome of this case, including receiving attorneys’ fees, encourages other lawyers to take up similar public interest cases,” DiFilippo said.
The lawsuit
In 2013, seven Tarrant County residents who had filed for divorce sued Wilder, alleging that he illegally charged them for their court fees although they submitted affidavits showing they could not afford to pay because of their economic status.
The fees were $300 on average and related to their divorce proceedings.
They were assessed the fees after their divorces were granted from 2008 to 2012. They included a woman with an abusive husband, a single mother who could not work as she recovered from cancer and a woman on food stamps whose ex-husband was imprisoned for sexually assaulting her daughter. They were among several hundred indigent litigants who received letters demanding immediate payment and a threat to seize their property if they failed to comply, court documents said.
Wilder began charging the fees in 2010 and stopped collecting them in 2013.
The legal battle involving Wilder and the seven residents wound through the courts. Initially, a Tarrant County district judge issued a temporary injunction to stop Wilder from charging the fees, but before the case could go to trial, the Second Court of Appeals reversed the ruling, stating that the fees should have been appealed in the courts that handled the divorce cases.
The Texas Supreme Court reversed the appeals court decision and sent the case back to the trial court.
Meanwhile, Wilder said the litigants filed their cases using forms with “unclear language” that said each party shall bear his or her costs.
Wilder added that he uncovered scams showing that some who filed the indigency affidavits had the money to pay.
DiFilippo said, “This is a first-of-its-kind case in Texas which has reinforced the constitutional guarantee that the courts are open to everyone, regardless of economic means.”
This story was originally published August 4, 2023 at 3:02 PM.