Two plaintiffs involved in a case over alleged violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act are seeking to have one attorney disqualified from participating in the case.
In an amended filing of a lawsuit, provided to the Amarillo Pioneer, Claudette Smith and Michael Fisher are seeking to have William McKamie disqualified from representing City Councilmembers in a lawsuit over alleged violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act. In the filing, Smith and Fisher state that McKamie should be disqualified from serving as counsel for the City Councilmembers involved in the lawsuit, as he may be called as a witness in the case.
McKamie is the former city attorney for Amarillo. A partner at McKamie Krueger, McKamie has served as city attorney, interim city attorney or assistant city attorney, for a number of cities. One of McKamie's most influential cases was when he represented a number of municipal officials in a lawsuit that reached the United States Supreme Court. McKamie served as city attorney from 2015 until early this year.
In addition, Smith and Fisher also added several other alleged violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act to the lawsuit against the City Council. The most recent alleged violation occurred in May 2018, according to the court documents provided to the Amarillo Pioneer.
Smith said, in a statement, that McKamie should not be serving the City Council, as she feels that it is a violation of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct.
"Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct provide that a lawyer shall not accept or continue employment in a proceeding if the lawyer knows or believes that the lawyer is or may be a witness necessary to establish an essential fact on behalf of the lawyer's client," Smith said. "The Rules also provide that a lawyer shall not represent a private client in connection with a matter in which the lawyer participated personally and substantially as a public officer or employee. Mick McKamie, was employed by the City and participated substantially in a large majority of the alleged violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act. Furthermore, I have found nothing in our City Charter authorizing McKamie to represent the Council Members privately."
Smith also went on to say that she believes the City Council should have used in-house counsel, as it is "wasteful" to assist McKamie's travel in and out of Amarillo for the case. McKamie's firm is based in the San Antonio area.
The Pioneer did not reach out to the City of Amarillo, as the City has previously stated that it does not comment on pending litigation.
Photo by City of Amarillo