Appellate court says litigation can move forward in former Edinburg chief’s whistleblower lawsuit

An appellate court has sided with the city of Edinburg’s former police chief who filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the city, claiming a former city manager fired him for reporting allegations of insurance fraud against an officer to the FBI.

The ruling from the 13th Court of Appeals only means that state District Judge Bobby Flores has the jurisdiction to preside over the lawsuit brought by Cesar Torres on May 5, 2021.

Flores previously sided with Torres on the matter, prompting the city to appeal his ruling.

Former city manager Ron Garza fired Torres, who is now the police chief for the city of Mission, following an adverse ruling against him by a neutral arbiter who determined Torres discriminated against two police officers for their membership and activity in a police union.

That ruling followed a federal lawsuit brought by the Edinburg United Police Officers Association against Torres and the city.

The arbiter’s ruling came down on April 7 and prompted Garza to tell Torres that he could either resign or be fired. Garza offered Torres a severance package and gave him until April 12 to decide.

It should be noted that the officer Torres reported to the FBI is Armando Celedon, a member of the union who opposed one of Torres’ first actions as chief, which was to hire an assistant chief from outside of the department, which triggered more than a year of litigation between that union and the city.

During that time, the Edinburg Police Department internal affairs investigators even charged Celedon with tampering with a government record. A grand jury no-billed Celedon, who also sued the city. He was reinstated to his position as a traffic investigator and received back pay.

At issue in the Thursday ruling from the 13th Court of Appeals was whether Torres met the 90-day threshold to file a whistleblower lawsuit. According to the Whistleblower Act, Torres must have filed the lawsuit within a 90-day window from adverse personnel actions against him.

Attorneys for the city of Edinburg had argued in front of Flores, the state district judge, that the 90-day window triggered on Oct. 9, 2020 when Torres alleges Garza “targeted” him with disparate discipline, and on Oct. 30, 2020 when the former city manager “threatened” his job security, according to the ruling.

“According to the City, these were adverse personnel actions that triggered Torres’s ninety-day filing period long before Torres was informed of his impending termination on April 7, 2021,” the ruling stated. “We disagree.”

The appellate judges determined that Torres’ “petition neither affirmatively establishes nor affirmatively negates the trial court’s jurisdiction. As such, ‘the issue is one of pleading sufficiency and [Torres] should be afforded the opportunity to amend.’”

In a statement, the city of Edinburg remained confident that it will prevail.

“The city of Edinburg respects the decision issued by the Texas 13th Court of Appeals to determine at this stage of the lawsuit if the district court has jurisdiction of Torres’s petition,” the statement said. “The city is committed to the ongoing legal process and remains confident its case will prevail.”

As of Saturday morning, a status hearing date had not been scheduled.