DEFENBAUGH FILES $1 MILLION DEFAMATION COUNTERSUIT ON RICK ZAYAS' CLIENTS JOE RODRIGUEZ AND TOM CHAVEZ

By Juan Montoya
Saying that the defamation lawsuit filed by former Brownsville Independent School District trustee and attorney Rick Zayas is "groundless and brought in bad faith, and brought for the purpose of harassment...and interposed for improper purposes" forensic auditor Danny Defenbaugh and Associates have countersued the pair and are asking the court for damages on $1 million.
The lawsuit was filed Friday in the 107th Judicial District Court.
Rodriguez and Chavez – though Zayas – filed a defamation lawsuit late August after the pair claimed that the February release of a forensic audit performed on a number of departments in the BISD at the behest of the board majority defamed their reputations.
In the countersuit, Defenbaugh's attorney – Bart Barr and Associates, of Dallas, – say that Rodriguez and Chavez knew that "false, defamatory, and disparaging statements about Defenbaugh would be published in the media in Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas, which constituted defamation per se and/or business disparagement resulting in presumed damages to Defenbaugh, for which Defenbaugh seeks judgement in the excess of a million dollars."
The countersuit also asks for additional compensation because it was "forced to retain counsel and incur attorney's fees and expenses to defend itself against the spurious, groundless, false, and vexious claims alleged by" Rodriguez and Chavez.
However, although the Zayas-filed lawsuit ostensibly names Defenbaugh as the defendant in the Rordiguez-Chavez litigation, the "facts" of the case are built entirely around the presumed illegal relationship between trustee Catalina Presas-Garcia and the forensic investigators, her attorney John Barr – and there is more reaching – and HealthSmart, the former third-party administrator for the BISD.

The school board in July 2011– under a new board majority made up of Presas-Garcia, Lucy Longoria, Enrique Escobedo and Christina Saavedra – authorized a forensic audit of several departments in the BISD. After a request for proposals from different firms, the majority hired Defenbaugh and Associates at $250,000 to perform it.

The men – through Zayas – charged that "somehow, certain departments and individuals that were not 'political allies' of Presas-Garcia were audited" with the intent to commit public humiliations.

They say that the forensic report found that Chavez – though his close relationship with Rodriguez – allowed their friendship to "interfere with what should have been a business decision causing a potential loss of revenue to be sustained with the district."

The lawsuit refers to the findings by Defenbaugh that state:

"Initial allegations that Joe Rodriguez was using undue influence and coercive tactics to pressure BISD coaches, athletic coordinators, and athletic personnel to purchaser sports uniforms and equipment from a company, BNS Sports, after Rodriguez became a sales representative for them after he left BISD in Dec. 31, 2009.

In addition, Rodriguez in a telephone call made to Margarita Pizano-Flores in Sept. 2011 threatened to sue BISD because the Purchasing Department had changed and improved the Catalog/Co-op procurement process.

Investigation and analysis subsequently revealed that a substantial amount of payments of uniforms and equipment totaling $497,117 in fiscal year 2010-2011 was completed compared to the previous fiscal years (2009-2010) total of $175,715; an increase of 283 percent...

"Although Chavez denied giving preferential treatment to BNS and/or Joe Rodriguez in the purchasing process for both schools, Chavez never gave any due consideration to at least three other approved vendors sports distributors."

What the lawsuit did not state is that as part of the negotiations with BISD before he left the district, Rodriguez was granted the option of choosing the next district AD, and chose Chavez. Further, there is no mention that Rodriguez was also given a "golden parachute" of $90,000 to go quietly.

Chavez took over Rodriguez's spot at a cool $98,000 a year. He is now a coach at a Rivera High School.
There is a saying in Spanish that if you choose to tangle with someone, make sure it's not the big dog on the block.
Barr, the attorney who represented Presas-Garcia in a lawsuit that was eventually dropped by Rodriguez for releasing the results of two BISD-ordered audit of his scholarship fundraisers, ain't no pushover.
He has been named as one of Texas Super Lawyer by Texas Monthly Magazine in 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, AV rated to the top 3 percent of lawyers by Martindale Hubble in 2009, AM best approved lawyer defense counsel and best company in 2005, one of the top four best injury defense lawyers in Tarrant County Fort Worth, by Texas Magazine, selected by Peers 2001 as top defense lawyers in Tarrant County by Bar Association, and Ft. Worth Magazine named him as one of the top defense lawyers in 2001.
He was also board certified as a Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocates in 2000.
His firm lists diverse specialties in litigation ranging from construction defects to international insurance and products liabilities.
Among some of their clients listed are Aerocozumel, Aerolitoral, Aeromexico, Crisa Corporation,
Ford Motor Company, Honeywell, Local, State and  foreign Governments, Mexicana Airlines
Procemex, Republican Party of Texas, Republic of Mexico, Smith Alarm Systems, Inc., Vitro Packaging Inc., and even Yellow Checker Cab Company.
"Si te vas a meter con alguien, esta seguro que no tiene un techo mas grande que el tuyo," the saying goes.
If the lawsuit against Danny Defenbaugh was done to affect the outcome the Presas-Garcia reelection, it just might prove to be a bit costly for the boys.