AUSTIN – Texas Public Policy Foundation attorneys filed a petition for review urging the Texas Supreme Court to overturn In re City of Georgetown and eliminate the blanket attorney-client privilege exception to TPIA requests. This case asks whether a governmental body can hide an investigative accounting report concerning alleged financial malfeasance at a public school facility from disclosure under the Texas Public Information Act by channeling the report through an attorney and asserting attorney-client privilege.
Between 2020 and 2021, Highland Park ISD’s Seay Tennis Center experienced a sudden jump in revenue of over one million dollars, with evidence suggesting that employees running the tennis center prior to 2021 were pocketing customers’ money that should have gone to the district. In response to public pressure, HPISD asked a third-party accounting firm to investigate how much money was siphoned away from HPISD through this nefarious activity—and then it refused to release the findings. TPPF sued HPISD in 2023 under the Texas Public Information Act to force HPISD to disclose the report.
“If governments can launder investigations through lawyers, like HPISD did here, the TPIA becomes meaningless,” said TPPF Senior Attorney Matthew Chiarizio. “We’re asking the Texas Supreme Court to close this loophole and restore public accountability.”
“The evidence shows that Highland Park ISD hired a lawyer to investigate the district’s own finances just so they could keep the report secret,” said TPPF Attorney Nathan Seltzer. “That is not the purpose of attorney-client privilege and it flies in the face of the Texas Public Information Act’s purpose.”
To read the petition for review, click here.
For additional background on the case, click here.