Judge Holds Up Latino Group Leader’s Firing

The ousted top executive of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund won a round in her fight to keep her job when a Texas judge issued an order Thursday temporarily voiding her firing by MALDEF’s executive committee.

State District Judge Carolyn Spears in San Antonio, in issuing the temporary restraining order, put on hold the appointment of former New Mexico Gov. Toney Anaya to replace Antonia Hernandez as MALDEF’s president and general counsel.

Hernandez and several of the group’s directors filed suit in San Antonio, contending that she was illegally fired at a meeting of the board’s executive committee last Saturday in Dallas. She has contended that only the 34-member board, not the 15-member executive committee, can dismiss her.

MALDEF’s board chairman, Eric P. Serna, announced her dismissal in Los Angeles on Monday, saying that the executive committee, of which he is a member, wanted a change of leadership. He declined to discuss specifics.

In San Antonio, MALDEF board members who support Hernandez were pleased with the ruling.

“I’m not suggesting Toney Anaya was or was not qualified,” said Frank Herrera Jr., the board’s vice chairman. “I’m just saying Antonia was not given due process.”

Los Angeles attorney Ralph Segura, who is representing Serna and other executive committee members, minimized the importance of Thursday’s ruling. He charged that the lawsuit was filed in Texas to avoid rules in most California state courts that require prior notice in cases where injunctive relief is sought.

There are no such requirements in Texas state courts, he said.

The San Antonio judge scheduled a hearing for Jan. 30 to consider a request for a preliminary injunction to extend the temporary restraining order.

Herrera and other Hernandez supporters on the board want the squabble to be resolved at a special board meeting on Feb. 21 in Los Angeles.

Hernandez, according to a spokeswoman, was at her desk at MALDEF’s Los Angeles headquarters, “carrying on with business as usual.”

Anaya was in Santa Fe, N.M., and could not be reached for comment.