Site updated February 4, 2010 at 11:35 pm

The Carrizo Springs H-E-B store partners presented a check for $1,900 to Mrs. Paula Seydel, Chamber of Commerce Manager, for their part in sponsoring the Harlem Ambassadors show and several players who will be participating in the event.

Get Ready For Our Local Team To Play
The Harlem Ambassadors On February 13, 2010

Local members of our community will be playing The Harlem Ambassadors on February 13th at the Carrizo Springs High School Gym.  The scholarship fund raiser is being hosted by The Chamber of Commerce –Visitor and Information Center and sponsored locally by H.E.B and The Texan Inn and The Wintergarden Inn. The game begins at 7:00 PM and pre-game tickets are on sale at The Style Shop and at The Chamber office. 
    All the team players are being sponsored by either local businesses, or family and friends.  The final list of players and sponsors will be in next week’s edition of The Javelin.
    Game Quarter sponsors to date are H.E.B, Church’s Chicken, and Capital Bank of Texas. Invite your family and don’t miss out on the fun and laughter that is sure to be part of an exciting time in Carrizo Springs.

District Judge Orders Attorneys Fees
in Public Information Case

District Judge Cynthia Muniz has ruled in favor of Dr. Ricky Alaniz and awarded him attorney fees and costs of over $36,000 in the Public Information Act case against the Carrizo Springs Housing Authority.
    In the fall of 2008, Dr. Ricky Alaniz filed a civil suit against the Carrizo Springs Housing Authority and its director, Mr. Alfredo Castaneda, for failing to provide documents that he requested under the Texas Public Information Act. Dr. Alaniz was seeking copies of contracts, budgets and expenses at the Housing Authority. When Mr. Castaneda did not provide copies of those documents, Dr. Alaniz took his case to court.
    In the lawsuit, Dr. Alaniz said that the Housing Authority did not provide all the contracts as requested, and that those that were provided had been altered. Additionally, he asserted that the budget spreadsheets provided were not the adopted budgets he requested.  The Housing Authority responded that it did not have a check register to provide.  The Housing Authority then filed a retaliation lawsuit against Dr. Alaniz in June 2009, claiming that Dr. Alaniz’s lawsuit was groundless, and that Dr. Alaniz’s actions constituted defamation and slander.  Judge Muniz dismissed the Housing Authority’s counter-lawsuit in October 2009. 
    Once the lawsuit was filed, Dr. Alaniz used the court rules to gather other documents from the Housing Authority, and he questioned the housing authority director and two housing authority board members in depositions.  Using that evidence, Dr. Alaniz presented a motion for summary judgment in November 2009, asserting that the undisputed facts proved his case, and that a trial was not necessary on any of his claims.  At that hearing, the court agreed with Dr. Alaniz regarding the contracts and budgets, and ruled in his favor, but refused to grant summary judgment on the question of whether the Housing Authority maintained a check register.  Rather than incur additional expenses in having a trial on the issue of whether the Housing Authority maintains a check register, Dr. Alaniz filed a nonsuit on the check register issue, which released the Housing Authority from liability and left that specific question unresolved.
    Judge Muniz did not award attorneys fees at that time, but the parties later provided the judge with information as to the amount of attorneys fees requested and arguments for and against the awarding of those fees.  Dr. Alaniz claimed that he was entitled to $86,715.00 in attorney fees because he prevailed in the lawsuit.  The Housing Authority responded by claiming that Dr. Alaniz had not actually won, and that the requested fees were too high.
    On January 14, the court signed an order stating that the Housing Authority failed to comply with law by failing to provide copies of its contracts and budgets, and awarded Dr. Alaniz $27,952.50 in attorney fees.  In an amended order signed on January 21, Judge Muniz also awarded Dr. Alaniz additional costs in the amount of $8,501.79. This brings the total award to $36,454.29 that the Housing Authority is ordered to pay to Dr. Alaniz. Additionally, Mr. Alfredo Castaneda estimated that their own attorney fees for defending the suit was $35,000.00.
    Dr. Alaniz said that he was glad that the judge had issued an award of attorney fees and that Judge Muniz had agreed with him that the Housing Authority had violated the Public Information Act. He said even if the award was not for the full amount of attorney fees he incurred, the judgment and attorney fees proved that he was right.
    The order “has resolved all issues pending in this case” and the case was dismissed with prejudice to the parties, meaning they could not re-file a new lawsuit on any of these same issues already determined to be resolved.
    Mr. Castaneda said that he is hoping to put this lawsuit behind them and is awaiting further instruction from HUD (Housing and Urban Development) regarding the judgment. He said that he never imagined Dr. Alaniz would pursue his request this far, but that he is happy with the judgment and ready to move on.