Update: Court Decision in TFVC Lawsuit

November 2023: Approximately two years ago, TFVC’s Board of Directors was forced to make the difficult choice to terminate our executive director, Jackie Schlegel, over her decision to take over $100,000 from the non-profit bank account without Board authorization. This action was taken on the eve of a previously agreed upon Board Meeting. You can read more about this and the resulting legal action TFVC took when Schlegel refused to acknowledge her termination and seized important assets belonging to the organization here.

While we had hoped for a quick and reasonable resolution of the case, over the course of the last two years, Schlegel has attempted to have the case dismissed based on the claim that she has a First Amendment right to take assets from the organization. In the summer of 2022, a district court denied her motion to dismiss. More recently, in November 2023, the Court of Appeals in Fort Worth not only concurred with the lower court’s decision to deny her motion but further concluded that statements that Schlegel “stole money” from TFVC were “substantially true.”

This newly issued court ruling requires Schlegel to pay attorney and court fees and allows the original suit to move forward with the expected outcome of the return of TFVC’s corporate assets. So while this legal fight is not over, the court’s decision is a welcome embrace of the truth after we have endured years of false accusations. 

We remain focused on the vital work of Texans for Vaccine Choice and are incredibly humbled by how many Texans continue to fight with us to protect vaccine choice. Your support has been vital in achieving more legislative victories this year than in any year since our organization began nearly 9 years ago.

January 4, 2024 Update: Schlegel’s Motion for Rehearing in the above opinion was denied.