Embattled Texas Lawyer Files Slander Suit Against Suspended Family Court Judge
Corrected: An embattled Texas lawyer is suing a now-suspended family law judge who presided over a contentious custody case the lawyer was involved in, alleging that the judge slandered him in a text message to the judge’s ex-wife.
Corpus Christi lawyer David Sibley, who filed suit Friday against suspended Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams, says the text message suggested that Sibley was mentally unstable and a danger to children, the Corpus Christi Caller reports.
“The slander at issue had made it essentially impossible for David Sibley to practice law for over a year,” the suit alleges.
Sibley, who was sanctioned by the Texas State Bar last July for violating ethics rules, admits that he has been asked to surrender his law license in January.
Adams is best known as the judge who was seen whipping his then 16-year-old daughter with a belt in a YouTube video that went viral last month. He was suspended last month, and his actions on the video are currently being investigated by the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct.
The suit stems from a custody case last year during which Adams sanctioned Sibley for violating discovery rules and making frivolous allegations. Sibley told the newspaper the state bar agreed to dismiss the sanctions if he would surrender his law license.
But after the video of the judge surfaced, Sibley said he decided not to surrender his license and is instead trying to get the courts to review the custody case.
Updated Dec. 13 to correct the age of the judge’s daughter at the time of the video to 16.
Correction
Updated Dec. 13 to correct the age of the judge’s daughter at the time of the video to 16.
