In a new twist that underscores the machinations behind the scenes to steer clients to preferred local attorneys, the mother and wife of a Mexican national shot to death by a Border Patrol agent on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande say they were pressured to sign on as a clients by the Mexican Consulate in Brownsville who led her to believe she had no option but to hire local attorney Ed Stapleton.
In the original complaint filed in July, Ernestina Cazares Santillan, mother of slain Mexican national Juan Pablo Perez Santillan, and Amada Carolina Martinez, his widow, and her two grandchildren sued Marc G. Rosenthal and his Austin law office, Rosenthal & Watson, in federal court.
However, in the mew complaint, both the mother and her daughter-in-law claim that the complaint filed Brownsville by attorney David Willis, of Willis and Matthews, P.C., was made without their authorization, Further, she states that Willis in the complaint "made substantive misleading statements" and asks the court to issue an order dismissing the complaint. The superceding lawsuit filed Monday follows a federal complaint that Cazares filed through Stapleton and Willis and Matthews P.C. against the United States in July.
In her new complaint, Cazares states: "On or about July 7, 2012, while in the Republic of Mexico, Juan Pablo Perez Santillan, was shot and killed by a United States Border Patrol Officer who was in the United States of America."Cazares says the Mexican Consulate in Brownsville put her in touch with attorney Stapleton, who on July 10, agreed to represent her and her daughter-in-law, Amada Martinez Morales, in a lawsuit against the United States.
The mother of the slain man said she was led to believe that she had "no option" but to sing on a paper that Stapleton produced. She said she did not know what the paper stated and that the alleged consulate agent translated between them because Sapleton did not speak Spanish. In her affidavit, Ernestina Cazares Santillan said Stapleton made her believe that he was the legal representative of the Mexican Consulate in Brownsville.
However, Amada Martinez Morales – the wife of the slain man – said in her affidavit that she had never signed any document with Stapleton or the law firm of Willis and Matthews P.C. and had already acquired the services of Rosethal and Watson through contacts with acquaintances in the Matamoros municipal government offices.
Additionally, she said that on July 18, her mother-in-law and herself met representatives of the Rosenthal and Watson law firm and agreed to have them represent their case in federal court.
After that occurred, the women charged that officials of the Mexican Consul in Brownsville and agents of the Ministerio Publico of Matamoros (Public Safety) had the women appear before them in the city offices in Matamoros and urged them not to sign on with Rosenthal and accused him and his firm of committing crimes and generally counseled them to sign with Stapleton.
according to the women, Mexican Consul Rodolfo Quilantan Arenas was present at the meeting and Stapleton spoke with them through translator on a speaker phone.
"They told me he was a thief, that he stole money from his clients and that he is a thief," the statement reads. "All these people scared me so bad about Rosenthal (that) I felt doubt...I didn't trust him no more."
At a subsequent meeting in the Ministerio Publico, the women were both made to sign an agreement to have Stapleton represent them.
"Once they finished preparing those documents and without reading them or understanding the reason of this, we both signed the documents because they ordered us to."
When the women had someone translate the documents prepared in English that they had both signed, they say that the documents "misrepresented out feelings" and "were full of lies."
On July 25, the women authorized Rosenthal's office to deliver a letter to Stapleton and to the court to leave them alone and not contact them. They also accused Stapleton of using the office of the Mexican Consul in Brownsville to approach them and win their trust.
On Aug. 2, the women filed a criminal complaint against Stapleton in Matamoros and asked for an injunction against him or his representatives from contacting them regarding legal representation in their case against the Border Patrol.
0 comments:
Post a Comment