The Commissioners Court met this week and will have another closed meeting on Monday with Assistant County Attorney Doug Manning concerning the county’s appeal of the Montano lawsuit. The next hearing of the appeal will be at the end of August.
The county appealed the case to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, and the appellate court has granted oral arguments which will be heard in Oxford, Mississippi on August 30. According to Manning a decision could be rendered by the appellate court towards the end of the year or even possibly the beginning of next year. “We feel pretty confident about the outcome. We feel we have some really good issues on appeal, and we expect a favorable result,” Manning stated.
Joining Manning in presenting the appeal for Orange County is Beaumont attorney David Gaultney. Previously Gaultney was a justice on the Ninth Court of Appeals and now works in private practice as an appellate attorney. “We’re excited he’s on board as counsel,” Manning said. Gaultney will lead the oral arguments during the appeal.
U.S. District Judge Ron Clark in April 2015 upheld the earlier jury’s finding in the case, but lowered the award by $900,000 from the original $2.4 million. Judge Clark then added attorney fees to bring the current award to approximately $2 million. The family of Robert Montano filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the county after Montano died in the Orange County Jail in 2011.
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