Houston attorney sues East End paralegal for defamation

A Houston attorney is suing after, he says, an East End paralegal posted damaging comments about him on Facebook.

Attorney Bob Bennett filed a defamation lawsuit on Aug. 30 in Harris County District Court against Xiomara Collins, of East End, citing business disparagement and tortious interference.

Bennett says on Aug. 12, Collins, a paralegal who used to work for the Texas State Bar Disciplinary Counsel, damaged his good name when she responded negatively on the Houston Family Law Facebook page to another attorney's request for a lawyer referral.

The suit alleges Collins posted, "bob bennett he is bad news" and "I would recommend Satan before Bob Bennett" and then stated that he, Bennett, "is a frequent flyer with the SBOT," or the State Bar of Texas.

Bennett asked Collins to remove the statements on Aug. 22, but she told him to contact her attorney, according to the brief.

Someone eventually removed the comments from Facebook, yet Collins refused to publish a correction or retraction, Bennett claims.

Bennett is seeking injunctive relief, damages, attorney's fees and court costs. He is being represented in the case by Houston attorney Jeffrey Wagnon.

Harris County District Court Case No. 2012-50279.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed at the Harris County Courthouse. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.