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20-1213-C368
CAUSE NO.
NOW COMES MICHAEL KLIER, hereinafter referred to as Plaintiff, and files this his
Defendant, and for cause of action would respectfully show the Court the following:
I.
DISCOVERY CONTROL PLAN AND JURY DEMAND
Pursuant to TEX. R. Civ. P. 216, Plaintiff requests a jury trial. Accordingly, Plaintiff
tenders the proper jury fee with the filing of this Petition.
II.
JURISDICTION AND VENUE
COUNTY, TEXAS is a governmental entity, organized under the laws of the State of Texas.
Pursuant to Section section 15.086, of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, venue is
This lawsuit is brought prusuan.t to the Texas Whistleblower Act, which contains an
Envelope# 45399643
express waiver of the County's sovereign immunity. Tex. Gov. Code Ann., sec. 554.0035.
The matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value of the minimum jurisdictional limits
of this Court, exclusive of costs and interest, and therefore, jurisdiction is proper in this Court.
While the amount of damages to be awarded will be the decision made by a jury of Plaintiff's
peers, to comply with Tex. R. Civ. P. 47, as revised, Plaintiff states he is seeking damages
pursuant to Rule 47(c)(4), in that he is seeking monetary relief of over $200,000.00 but not more
than $1,000,000.00.
III.
PARTIES AND SERVICE
the laws of the State of Texas, and which may be served with process, by serving its County
Judge, Bill Gravell, Jr., at '710 S. Main Street, Suite 101, Georgetown, Texas. 78626.
IV.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
At all times relevant to Plaintiff's claims herein, Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER was a public
employee of the Defendant, WILLIAMSON COUNTY, TEXAS and employed by the Williamson
County Sheriff's Office (hereinafter "WCSO") as a deputy sheriff The Williamson County
Sheriff's Office was a governmental entity at all times relevant hereto. The Sheriff of
Williamson County, Robert Chody (hereinafter "Chody"), was and is an elected official. At all
times relevant herein, Chody was acting in his official capacity as Sheriff of Defendant,
WCSO's and Chody's misdeeds and violations of the Whistleblower Act. Chody, WCSO and
Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER was a Detective at the Williamson County Sheriffs Office. In
April 2018 Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER, as the on-call Detective responded to notification an
individual in custody, Daniel McCoy was found non-responsive in his cell. After investigating
the circumstances surrounding McCoy's condition, Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER concluded the
medic (Sgt. Nira) had been reckless in his handling of Daniel McCoy and that his reckless
During the investigation, Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER became aware of a Facebook group
that the medics employed by the WCSO had formed. The group had posted comments on
Facebook related to the McCoy matter. In these social media posts and comments, members of
the group were laughing about Daniel McCoy's death. In one comment, the poster bragged they
had saved the County a thousand dollars ($1,000.00) a month in medication costs. In another
post the author inquired whether Sheriff Chody was going to "Facebook about this". During a
briefing on or about April 16, 2019, MICHAEL KLIER notified the Sheriff (Robert Chody) of the
findings of the ongoing investigation and about the Facebook messages he had discovered.
Sheriff Chody's response was , "I don't Facebook, I tweet". Apparently the Sheriff was not
Following that meeting, all paper copies of the Facebook messages were left in a room
with Asst. County Attorney Jason Nassour, Sheriff Robert Chody, and Chief Tim Ryle. A short
time later, Commander Brinkmann instructed/ordered Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER to omit the
messages from the report, advised him they did not have anything to do with the event in the cell,
individuals involved in posting the messages. Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER was subsequently
removed from the case and the case was turned over to the Major Case department to work with
the Rangers. It is important to note MICHAEL KLIER wrote more than half the reports and he had
never spoken to Ranger Phillips. The digital Facebook messages were saved on Plaintiff
MICHAEL KLIER'S County-issued cellular telephone, which was retained in case they were
needed. Later, Lt. Lowthorp of the Office of Professional Standards ("OPS") took possession of
Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER's cellular telephone in which the messages were saved.
On or about November 7, 2019, Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER went to Lt. Morris with the
Criminal Investigations DiviSion of the Williamson County Sheriff's Office and again asked
what he should do with the Facebook messages, since the WCSO had received an open records
request for all of his work dUring the McCoy case. Lt. Morris and MICHAEL KLIER spoke in his
office, with Lt. David Lowthorp in attendance. Neither Lt. Morris nor Lt. Lowthorp offered any
guidance to Plaintiff. On or about November 7, 2019, MICHAEL KLIER e-mailed all of the
Facebook messages he had photographed with his County-issued cellular telephone to Lt. Morris,
then asked what he should do with the messages. To this day, Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER has
On or about December 13, 2019, Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER read a KVUE news article
about the lawsuit involving McCoy. He immediately went to Lt. Travis and asked him what he
should do with the Facebook messages. Lt. Travis responded by taking Michael Klier to
Assistant Chief Fikac, at which time Michael Klier asked Assistant Chief Ficac for guidance.
Chief Ryle told Asst. Chief Ficac to take Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER to the Office of Professional
messages.
On December 13, 2019 at the Office of Professional Standards, Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER
gave a witness statement in the OPS file for Sgt. Nira's case (OPS 761). He gave his witness
statement to Lt. David Lowthorp. Lt. Lowthorp had possession of Plaintiff's original photos of
the Facebook messages that he had left with the Sheriff and Chief Tim Ryle.
On December 17, 2019, Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER was placed under investigation by the
Office of Professional Standards for incompetent or ineffective behavior. At that time, Plaintiff
had no modified assignments, was still working as a detective and performing "on-call" work.
On or about January 20, 2020, Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER's OPS investigation was
On January 27, 2020, Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER spoke to Williamson County Assistant
District Attorney Mike Davis at the Williamson County District Attorney's office, along with
Assistant District Attorney Jamie Falica. During that meeting MICHAEL KLIER informed them
both of multiple cases in which the Williamson County Sheriff's Office had lied or withheld
evidence from the District Attorney and the Rangers. Plaintiff then returned to the Williamson
County Sheriff's Office the same morning and told his direct supervisor, Sgt. Jason Breautigam
that he had gone to the Williamson County District Attorney and reported several violations of
the law (whistle blower activity) involving the Williamson County Sheriff's Office and its
employees. He also told Sgt. Breautigam he would be in late on the 30th because he was giving
his official statement and turning over the rest of the evidence in his possession regarding the
notifying the Chain of Command at the Williamson County Sheriffs Office of Plaintiff MICHAEL
KLIER's actions, i.e. reporting violations of law committed by the WCSO to the Williamson
On January 29, 2020 OPS Lt. David Lowthorp received an e-mail from Chief Tim Ryle
stating Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER was to be placed on Administrative leave so that he (Chief Ryle)
could look into Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER's behavior. Lt. Lowthorp showed the e-mail to
Plaintiff. MICHAEL KLIER then asked Lt. Lowthorp what behavior was in issue and Lt. Lowthorp
replied, "I do not know". While in the room utilized for recording statements, Plaintiff
MICHAEL KLIER told Lt. Lowthorp about his whistleblower activity, i.e. reporting violations of
law committed by the Williamson County Sheriffs Office and its employees to the Williamson
County District Attorney. He was then placed on administrative leave and escorted out of the
Sgt. Breautigam told Plaintiff that the memo he wrote to Lt. Travis and Lt. Morris on
January 28, 2020 stated MICHAEL KLIER had met with the District Attorney and was scheduled
to return on January 30, 2020 to complete his statement to the investigators. He also told
Plaintiff the memo outlined their conversation of January 27, 2020, during which they discussed
the whistle blower report MICHAEL KLIER made to the District Attorney, and stated Plaintiff was
going to be a bit late on the 30th, as that was the date he would be sitting down again with the two
District Attorney investigators to provide details of what he had reported on the 27th. Sgt.
Breautigam turned in the memo on the afternoon of January 28, 2020. Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER
was escorted out of the Williamson County Sheriffs Office the next morning. When MICHAEL
replied he had no idea. The morning Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER spoke with Williamson County
Assistant District Attorney Mike Davis, Davis replied "had I known about the messages
(Facebook) it may have changed my mind about the need for a grand jury".
On January 30, 2020 Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER gave a full statement to the District
Attorney of all violations of law committed by the Williamson County Sheriffs Office and its
evidence in violation of sections 37.08 False Report to a Peace Officer, 37.09 Tampering with or
Fabricating Evidence, and/or 37.10 Tampering with a Government Record, Texas Penal Code.
On February 10, 2020, Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER was called in again in and charged with
untruthfulness. MICHAEL KLIER again asked Lt. David Lowthorp what he was untruthful about.
On or about March 29, 2020, Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER was demoted and again placed on
administrative leave. This demotion was unwarranted and the action was taken solely in
On June 29, 2020 Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER was fired. The termination was unwarranted
and the action was taken solely in retaliation for his whistleblower activity.
Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER, believed in good faith, these activities by his employer,
WILLIAMSON COUNTY, by and through Sheriff Chody and the WCSO Chain of Command,
violated state statutes and/or rules specifically sections 37.08 False Report to a Peace Officer,
37.09 Tampering with or Fabricating Evidence, and/or 37.10 Tampering with a Government
Record, Texas Penal Code, and that the Williamson County District Attorney's Office was an
Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER contends that in reporting the above violations of law, he had a
good faith belief the actions of Sheriff Robert Chody, the Williamson County Sheriff's Office,
the WCSO's Chain of Command and therefore the County, violated state laws and/or rules, and
that the law enforcement agency to which he reported the violations, specifically the Williamson
County District Attorney's Office, was an appropriate law enforcement authority, i.e. was
authorized to regulate or to enforce the laws alleged to be violated in the report, to investigate
V.
AGENCY
Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER would show that at all times relevant hereto, the employees and
agents of Defendant were acting within the course and scope of their employment with
Defendant and that Chody was at all times relevant, acting in his official capacity as the elected
VI.
VIOLATIONS OF WHISTLEBLOWER ACT
Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER would show that in reporting the above violations of law, he had
a good faith belief that the actions of Chody, WCSO, and its Chain of Command, and therefore
the County, violated state laws and/or rules, and that the law enforcement agency he reported the
violations to, the Williamson County District Attorney's Office, was an appropriate law
enforcement authority, i.e. was authorized to regulate under or enforce the laws alleged to be
The Defendant's actions in demoting and terminating Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER from his
Texas Whistleblower Act, Tex. Gov't Code Sec. 554.001 et seq, in that Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER
was a public employee who was demoted and then terminated by Defendant in retaliation for
reporting violations of law by his employer and employees of his employer, to an appropriate law
enforcement authority.
VII.
DAMAGES
Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER would show as a result of the retaliation against him, he has
suffered damages and is entitled to recover his damages in the past and in the future including,
lost wages, loss of employment benefits, front pay, pecuniary losses, emotional pain, suffering,
mental anguish, inconvenience, and loss of enjoyment of life within the jurisdictional limits of
this court. Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER would further show that Defendant's unlawful action as
compensation for wages lost since his removal and demotion and reinstatement of fringe benefits
VIII.
GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES
Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER has exhausted the available grievance or appeal procedures as
of June 29, 2020. Pursuant to Tex. Government Code section 554.006, all conditions precedent
IX.
ATTORNEY FEES
Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER is entitled to attorney's fees pursuant to Chapter 554 of the
X.
Pursuant to Chapter 30.014 of the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code, the last three
digits of Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER social security number are 864 and the last three digits of his
XI.
NOTICE OF INTENT TO USE DOCUMENTS
Pursuant to Tex. R. Civ. P. 193.7, Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER, by and through the
undersigned attorneys, notifies Defendant of Plaintiffs intention to use, any pretrial proceeding
XII.
REQUEST FOR DISCLOSURE
Under the authority of Texas Rules of Civil Procedure 194, Plaintiff MICHAEL KLIER
requests that Defendant disclose within fifty (50) days of service of this request, the information
XIII.
PRAYER
Defendant WILLIAMSON COUNTY, TEXAS be cited to appear and answer herein, and upon
hearing, the Court declare Defendant's acts in violation of the Texas Whistleblower Act; that
Defendant WILLIAMSON COUNTY, TEXAS be permanently enjoined together with all agents,
employees, successors and others directed by or in concert with them in future violations of the
Tex. Government Code; that the Plaintiff be awarded judgment, reinstatement, his damages,
prejudgment interest, post judgment interest, all interest to be paid by the highest legal rate, for
MICHAEL KLIER to a comparable position with Defendant if front pay is not awarded, and for
such other and further relief, either at law or in equity, to which Plaintiff may be justly entitled.
Respectfully submitted,
By:
Randall D. i oore
State Bar No. 1 27
Robert M. McCabe
State Bar No. 24026830
The Law Office of Robert M. McCabe
203 S. Austin Ave.
Georgetown, Texas 78626
Telephone: (512) 240-5385
Telecopier: (512) 597-3993
E-mail: robert@mccabecriminaldefense.com