Several deadlines are coming up ahead of a jury trial that is set for November in the case of the Llano County Librarian who was fired, allegedly because she voiced opposition to the county’s book removals that occurred in 2021; however, the deadlines likely are unnecessary because a deal is in the works between the parties, federal court records show.
The plaintiff, Barbara Suzette Baker, filed her initial, 47-page complaint on March 4, 2024, in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas in Austin. She filed an amended complaint on May 23, 2024, followed by a second amended complaint on Jan. 15.
Baker, who was the head librarian of the Kingsland Branch before being fired in 2022, is suing nine defendants: Llano County, Llano County Commissioner’s Court, County Judge Ron Cunningham, Precinct 4 Commissioner Jerry Don Moss, Llano County Library System Director Amber Milum, and library advisory board members Bonnie Wallace, Rochelle Wells, Gay Baskin and Rhonda Schneider.
A series of motions and responses were filed by both parties in 2024 and into this year. Then, on March 6, attorneys for Baker and the defendants filed a joint “notice of tentative settlement,” which states: “The Parties hereby notify the Court that all parties have tentatively reached material terms of settlement that will fully resolve all claims in this action. Once the parties execute a final signed agreement, Plaintiff (Baker) will file a notice of dismissal. Accordingly, Plaintiff will file a notice of dismissal within 45 days...The Parties request that the Court vacate all attendant deadlines in this matter.”
The News will continue to follow Baker’s lawsuit as well as the separate, pending federal lawsuit that was filed in 2022, by seven library patrons who disagreed with the removal of controversial books in 2021. That lawsuit remains in limbo until a panel of federal appellate judges issue an order on whether Llano County will have to put the 17 books back on the shelves. It is not known when the panel will issue their opinions; but after it does, the case will return to U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman’s court in Austin.
