By Juan Montoya
When delinquent tax collectors for Linebarger Goggan Blair and Sampson, LLP, filed suit against Romulo Castillo, who owned Ro-Ca Bail Bonds and a finance company holding a lien on a property for a loan they had extended to Seferino Noriega, they also filed against Noriega's heirs.
In question was the $3,880.62 in delinquent taxes on a property listed as collateral for the loan which Linebarger wanted the heirs to pay.
Toward that end, the 197th District Court appointed two attorneys to represent the defendants, Castillo and Noriega. At stake was the Noriega property posted as collateral by Ro-Ca Bail Bonds on the loan they made Noriega.
There was only one hitch. Both the lender (Castillo) and the borrower (Noriega) were dead. And, as the court proceedings went forward, it was learned that Noriega had paid off the loan and that it had been Castillo who had failed to remove the lien from the property.
But, the court having appointed two attorneys ad litem to represent the two dead parties, the descendants learned that they had to pay the court-appointed lawyers $500 each even though they never requested their assistance or saw any of their work product.
To add insult to injury, they learned that both of the lawyers appointed by the court – Joe Arreola and Matthew Kendall – were full-time employees with the Cameron County District Attorney's Office moonlighting as ad litem appointees with the local courts.
"(Cameron County District Attorney) Luis (V.) Saenz allows his assistants to represent parties in ad litem cases as long as they are not criminal cases," said a local attorney acquainted with the system. "It's a way for them to make a little extra dough on the side without having any conflict."
To Maria B. Noriega, the sister of one of borrower Noriega's daughters who lives on the property, the fact that she and her family had to pay Arreola and Kendall $500 each was a little much. She said the letter from the court stating that the court had appointed Arreola as the family's ad litem representative did not mention any other attorney. She questioned why they had to pay Kendall and additional $500.
"Mr. Kendall is nowhere on our paperwork or was notified by the court," she wrote. "He is not working for us or defending our case. We should not have to pay for someone else's charges. We have been told that he was later added to the case, but the fact is that he is representing the bail bonds...We did the work, not him."
In the end, the Noriegas had to fork over $500 each to Arreola and Kendall, this despite the fact that both are full-time DA's Office employees earning a set salary for working as prosecutors.In the 2018 budget for the DA's Office, Arreloa is listed as drawing $64,178 and Kendall $69,482. In fact, a list of the Asst. DA's who have received payments from the county's general funds shows that the public has also contributed to the moonlighting gravy.
"Because we don't want any charges, we will send a check for Mr. Kendall and proceed to find an attorney to fight these charges," she wrote the court.
(As you can see, the Noriega family payments to Arreola and Kendall do not show up on the payments made them by the courts from public funds, for appointments in all types of cases. These payments are in addition to their full-time salaries. We are in the process of requesting payments made by Linebarger to the Asst. DA's the courts appoint in their cases.)
But these payments from Linebarger to the Asst. DA's are only the tip of the iceberg. The total of the payments Linebarger pays the Asst. DA's are not shown on public records. That is between the delinquent tax collector and the lawyers and are tacked on to the defendants in the cases filed in the local courts.
In their letter to the defendants, Linebarger states that they are also liable for "delinquent taxes on the property and in addition to the taxes, all interest, penalties, attorneys's fees, abstractor's fees and court costs allowed by law up to and including the day of judgment, post judgment interest at the maximum rate allowed by law and the establishment of foreclosure of liens securing the payment of same..."
They also warn them that they can be liable for "any claims that "may be filed in this cause by all other parties and by all those taxing units..., who may intervene and set up their tax claims against the property."
If we add the $1,000 to the Asst. DAs, plus say, $300 in court costs and the interest on the initial 3,800 demanded from the Noriegas by Linebarger, the family my well have ended up paying an additional $2,000 or more (not including travel costs from Houston where they reside and lodging while here to attend the court hearings), almost double the tax bill.
"My sister in law paid the court costs," Noriega said. "We all chipped in and paid off the taxes. But I don't see why we had to pay another lawyer who didn't do anything for us."