It had been speculated by courthouse observers that Sorola had called a hearing today to reconsider the Temporary Restraining Order he issued Wednesday stopping the Greater Brownsville Incentive Corporation from hiring San Antonio Toyota executive Mario Lozoya.
However, no action was taken in open court and no record exists of the remarks between the judge and lawyers for plaintiff Nurith Galonsky, a member and secretary of the GBIC board, and defense attorneys for the majority of the board who voted for Lozoya.
Galonsky and board member John Cowen voted against approving the five-year contract with Lozoya. The majority - chairman and city commissioner Cesar De Leon, Cameron County Treasurer David BetanoCurt and board member Jessica Tetreau-Kaifa - voted to approve it.
Citing the urgency of the matter at hand, the court issued the TRO and scheduled a hearing on the matter next Wednesday saying that Galonsky had claimed that allowing Lozoya to start work Friday at the GBIC would cause the plaintiffs to suffer irreparable harm.
In the TRO, the court said that it was taking the action ex parte despite not having heard the defendants' side on the matter because of the urgency of the issue.
Usually, the plaintiffs' attorneys inform the defendants' attorneys of filings out of courtesy or upcoming legal actions in court against their clients. This time Galonsky's attorneys did not and the court did not hear the other side.
But a review of the TRO petition indicates that Galonsky, despite being the secretary of the GBIC board, attached a 2012 version of the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation (BCIC) by-laws they alleged prevented the GBIC board from hiring a director. Neither the plaintiffs nor their attorneys told the court that they were from the BCIC, not the GBIC, or that the GBIC had updated their bylaws in 2017.
The obsolete bylaws of the BCIC have been published online and have been used to assert that the GBIC board majority acted illegally. The board was guided by a professional head-hunting firm which vetted all the candidates and recommend the best candidate and the recommendation was Lozoya.
That, and other issues, are to be aired on Wednesday.