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Civ. Stat. art. 6252-16a, recodified as Tex. Govt. Code sec.
554.001, effective Sept. 1, 1993 (Vernon 2004 & Supp. 2004-2005).
Petitioner alleged damages of: (1) Loss of wages and benefits;
(2) past and future mental anguish; and (3) expenses incurred in
connection with prosecuting the case, including court costs and
attorney’s fees. When the district attorney offered to dismiss
the criminal charges if petitioner would drop the whistleblower
suit, petitioner refused. Shortly before trial of the criminal
case, the district attorney dismissed the charges under the
indictment, pending further investigation.
Petitioner’s whistleblower suit was tried before a jury from
August 26, 1991, through September 17, 1991. At that trial,
petitioner’s counsel, D. Douglas Brothers (Brothers), informed
the jury that they would be asked to award damages for: (1) Out-
of-pocket expenses; (2) lost wages, past and future; (3) mental
suffering, past and future; and (4) punitive or exemplary
damages, awarded “as an example to others and as a penalty or by
way of punishment”. Brothers informed the jury that exemplary
damages serve two purposes: “to deter * * * [retaliatory]
conduct, to show how important it is that this never happen; and
two, to punish those that perpetuated * * * [the retaliatory]
conduct.”
At the time of the whistleblower trial, petitioner suffered
from severe depression. Richard E. Coons, M.D. (Coons), an
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