Are Mark Sossi's Days As City Attorney Numbered?

City Attorney Mark Sossi was not a good hire by the city in March of 2009.  His previous employer, the Willette & Guerra law firm had already proven in court that he had pocketed $167,363 intended for the firm, while the Texas Workforce Commission found that he had done the same thing with  monies earmarked for unemployment benefits to the tune of $20,711.66.  During his first year on the city payroll his license to practice law was revoked at least once.

Mark The Sossi

The I.R.S. has recently joined the crowd of those trying to recover funds from Sossi, issuing a $100,000 tax lien.  Unfortunately for Sossi, the I.R.S. does not go to the back of the line, but instead will likely initiate garnishment soon if they have not done so already.

Private Practice Failures

As recently noted in Mean Mister Brownsville, Sossi's difficulty in practicing law straighforwardly has extended into private practice as several unwitting Brownsville residents perhaps thought the words "City Attorney" implied "city's best attorney":

"Several citizens have sought the City Attorney to assist them with personal legal matters and paid dearly for their choice of representation including Rogelio and Ingrid Gonzalez, as detailed in Juan Montoya's El Rrun Rrun article published 6/21/2012:
"A Stell teacher and her husband say that city contract attorney Mark E. Sossi deliberately failed to prosecute their case which resulted in their losing their $39,800 property to a title company with which he was in cahoots and which then paid $10 for it at a foreclosure sale, selling it later for $20,000.The couple – Rogelio and Ingrid Gonzalez – originally sued Sossi for legal malpractice and now charge that he and Southern Texas Title Company of joining forces to defraud the couple and that Sossi kept them in the dark for years until they found out that their case had been dismissed for want of prosecution."


Oliveira Middle School teacher Jesus Abete, Jr., who initially hired Sossi to recover medical costs and receive payment for injuries in an auto accident, ended up suing for malpractice when Sossi mishandled his case. Here is a partial quote from the suit as published in El Rrun Rrun: "In the ensuing months, (Sossi) repeatedly lied to (Abete), and misrepresented the true facts of the underlying lawsuit to (him). The truth is that (Sossi) never filed suit on behalf of Abete, and by law, suit had to be filed before the statute of limitations expired. The statute of limitations is two years from the date of the accident (January 2, 2009) Jan. 8, 2011. If the suit was not filed by then, (Abete's) rights would have been forever extinguished," the lawsuit states.
"(Sossi) failed to file (Abete's) suit," it continues. "Now that the statute of limitations has expired, (Abete) is forever barred from recovering damages for the serious personal injuries he suffered in the (crash)."

Is Sossi Involved in Bannergate?

Tony Martinez

The straw that may break the proverbial camel's back with respect to Sossi's continued $10,000 per month employment with the City of Brownsville and even possibly his $5,000 month retainer with the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation (GBIC) is if Sossi is found to have even the slightest involvement in the embarrassing so-called banner contract Mayor Tony evidently signed linking the city with Community Showcase Banners of Warsaw, N.Y., headed by David McCarthy.  McCarthy evidently wooed Tony at the 80th Annual Conference of Mayors held in Orlando, Florida on day 3 of that conclave by impressing the mayor with the fact that Brownsville was one of only 15 cities in the United States "awarded" a "community showcase".  

The award seemed innocuous enough since it was "at no cost to the city", although it paved the way for McCarthy accompanied by a buxom female identified as Itza Pena, to hit up local Brownsville businessmen to purchase pricey flag and banner kits indicating their support of Tony and the project.  We've been told that Ms. Pena is a close associate of the much maligned City Attorney Mark Sossi.  Perhaps this final embarrassing straw will be enough for the City Commission to send Sossi packing.