Texas Judge Steps Aside from 60 Cases at One Law Firm
A disabled client of a Texas law firm is reportedly feeling more secure after his counsel won a recusal motion that required the judge in his case to step aside. Meanwhile, the judge has now recused herself from all 60 of the cases that had been on her docket involving the law firm that represents this client.
Although Judge Yvonne Rodriguez, who sits in probate court in El Paso County, denied having any prejudice against attorney Terry Hammond or his law firm, she signed an order yesterday “removing herself from all cases involving the Hammond Townsend Allala law firm,” writes the El Paso Times. This sweeping recusal had been sought by Hammond, the newspaper notes. Another judge granted late last year Hammond’s motion seeking Rodriguez’ recusal in the case of Juan Carlos Hurtado.
According to the article, Hurtado, who is disabled from a prenatal injury, is cared for by an aunt who is his guardian. A settlement-funded trust overseen by the court has paid, with the approval of a now-retired judge, for a house and a van for the two, as well as disbursements to cover living expenses.
However, Rodriguez, once the matter was assigned to her last year, allegedly tried to make unilateral changes in Hurtado’s care and talked about putting him in a nursing home to save money, even though he reportedly wanted to remain with his aunt. (A doctor wrote that it was “medically necessary” for Hurtado to continue living in his current situation.)
During a six-month period last year when the payments were cut off, Hurtado’s aunt, Matilde Hurtado Tena, “worked cleaning houses to make ends meet. She had to take Hurtado along because he couldn’t be left alone,” the newspaper writes. Both she and her nephew say their lives are back to normal again now that Rodriguez is no longer involved, the newspaper writes.
“This is my blood,” Tena tells the paper in Spanish. “I’m never going to leave him behind.”
According to a recusal motion, the Times says, other Hammond Townsend cases were adversely affected when Rodriguez told her staff that they were to have no contact with the firm’s employees and she would handle all such communications personally.
