Municipal Defense

For Texas law enforcement officers who might potentially be accused of excessive force and have to prove self-defense, it's extremely helpful to have some background knowledge as to how these types of cases are handled. By learning about investigations of excessive...

Qualified immunity protects government employees in Texas from lawsuits when they become involved in an incident while working. The intent is to create an environment where employees can perform their job duties without fear of civil consequences. Police officers are...

You can't fight city hall, they say. Some Texans may be surprised that this saying has its roots in British common law from well before the USA existed. The idea is "sovereign immunity" and is simply that governments are immune from lawsuits brought against them using...

The Austin City Council agreed to lease a location from MetCenter for 10 years at a cost of $31 million to house the new Municipal Court. That was in May. Now MetCenter is suing the city for pulling out of the deal. The agreement was tentative, but MetCenter alleges...

The kinds of activities that can rise to the level of public corruption in Texas are probably as variable as your imagination. What may be proper activities in a non-public-official's life can be entirely illegal once one is a public official. Certain actions of...

As a public school official, you understand the responsibilities you have to the residents of Texas. These include both the charge you have to ensure their children have the best possible education, and the appropriate expenditures of the public's tax dollars. Because...

As a city official in Austin, you hold the public trust in the palms of your hands. With that trust comes great responsibility, as well as a good deal of scrutiny. Many of those that we here at Wright and Greenhill PC have worked with in the past have seen that...

If you are a public employee, you may use government-owned vehicles in your daily work. However, if you were to get into an accident or damage someone’s property while using that vehicle, do you know who is held liable? While it is commonly thought that an...