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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT 

COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT

OF TEXAS FORT WORTH DIVISION

EUGENIO VARGAS, 

Plaintiff/Counterclaim

Defendant,

v.

ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL 

FLIGHT ATTENDANTS, et al., 

Defendants/Counterclaim

Plaintiff.

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Civil Action No. 4:22-cv-430-Y 

Judge Terry R. Means

PLAINTIFF’S NOTICE OF OBJECTION TO NOTICE OF DEPOSITION OF 

EUGENIO VARGAS AND MOTION TO EXTEND DEADLINES FOR DISCOVERY 

AND FILING OF DISPOSITIVE MOTIONS

TO THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE:

COMES NOW, Plaintiff, Eugenio Vargas (hereinafter sometimes either 

"Vargas" or "Plaintiff'), and asks the Court to extend time for the discovery period, 

dispositive motions so that the parties can seek discovery and schedule depositions 

after the union’s upcoming elections for National Officers, and in support thereof 

would respectfully state to the Court as follows:

Introduction

1. The Plaintiff is the former National Treasurer of the Association of 

Professional Flight Attendants and a member in good standing

from 2016 – 2018. Robert “Bob” Ross is the former National 

President of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants

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while Vargas served as National Treasurer. The Defendants are the 

Association of Professional Flight Attendants ("APFA" or “the 

union”), Julie Hedrick ("Hedrick"), and Erik Harris (hereinafter all 

defendants collectively referred to as "Defendants").

2. Plaintiff filed his Original Complaint against Defendants on May 17, 

2022. [Doc. 1]. Defendants filed an Answer and Original 

Counterclaim against Plaintiff on July 1, 2022. [Doc. 11].

3. Plaintiff sought leave of Court to file his First Amended Complaint on 

November 9, 2022. [Doc. 55].

4. Defendants were granted leave to file an Answer and Counterclaim 

in response to Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint on or about 

February 22, 2023. [Doc. 72).

5. On September 1, 2023, Defendants served very limited responsive 

documents to Plaintiff’s First Requests for Production served on Defendants

on August 14, 2023. 

6. On September 5, 2023, Plaintiff filed its Motion to Compel Discovery. 

[Doc. 110].

7. The Court entered an order to meet and confer between the Parties relating 

to Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel on September 8, 2023. This order requires 

Plaintiff to file an Amended Motion to Compel on October 20, 2023 and 

Defendants to file a Response to Plaintiff’s Amended Motion to Compel on

November 13, 2023. [Doc. 113]. 

8. On September 13, 2023, Defendants conferenced about possible dates to 

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conduct Depositions, however no agreement was reached on the dates and 

manner of the Depositions. 

9. On Friday September 15, 2023, Defendants served their Notice of 

Deposition on Eugenio Vargas for an in-person deposition on October 26, 

2023 at Gillespie Sandford LLP, 4803 Gaston Avenue, Dallas, Texas 

75246. 

10. The deadline to conclude discovery is October 31, 2023. [Doc. 11].

11. The deadline for all parties to file dispositive motions is December 15,

2023. [Doc. 11].

Argument

12. Under Rule 6(b) the court may extend the time specified for a particular 

act that must be done for good cause upon request by a party before the 

deadline expires, or upon motion after the time has expired. (Fed. R. 

Civil. Proc. 6(b)).

13. During the course of discovery in this matter, Plaintiff uncovered facts 

that support additional claims against two additional Defendants.

14. Josh Black, APFA National Secretary, and Larry Salas, APFA National 

Vice-President received a copy of the Confidential Memorandum 

delivered via email by APFA National Treasurer Erik Harris on 

October 22, 2020, which states that 

”Please note the Bob Ross confidential transition agreement states that he will be paid 

all of his accrued and unused sick, and accrued and unused vacation time. This 

agreement doesn't specify that the payments be made in accordance with the policy 

manual guidelines. Consequently, these payments appear appropriate and in 

compliance with the transition agreement.” 

15. On September 1, 2023, Plaintiff received 99 pages of heavily redacted 

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discovery responses, which included an email communication between 

the National Officers, inside and outside counsel dated October 22, 

2020 that transmitted the Confidential Memo from Woods, Stephens, 

and O’Neil, LLP. 

16. The production of this email during the discovery process brings rise to 

additional claims for which Plaintiff wishes to seek additional 

discovery. The evidence establishes that Josh Black, National 

Secretary, and Larry Salas, National Vice-President received notice that 

the debt claims were not valid and Ross was paid correctly. 

17. Furthermore, Plaintiff hereby objects to Defendants’ Notice of Intent to 

take an in-person Deposition of Eugenio Vargas on October 26, 2023 

as Plaintiff was unable to solidify and confirm the plans for a deposition 

and Plaintiff is scheduled for a medical procedure which requires his 

sedation under anesthesia. Due to the lack of any final decision about 

deposition dates and methods, Plaintiff was unable to adjust his 

schedule to accommodate Defendants’ request prior to finalization of 

his work schedule on September 15, 2023 at 12:00pm. Plaintiff will be 

hospitalized and under heavy sedation on this date due and wishes to 

reschedule this deposition for a different date and time. 

18. Plaintiff further objects to seeking this deposition while his Motion to 

Compel is pending before this Court, as Defendants failed to turn over 

a substantial amount of evidence to Plaintiff. Consequently, Plaintiff is

prejudice in conducting depositions and therefore depositions are not 

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appropriate on any parties until such time as Defendants documents 

have been produced. 

19. Plaintiff further objects to Defendants' Deposition as Defendants 

demand for this Deposition be taken in person, rather than virtually. 

Plaintiff’s counsel notified Defendant’s counsel that Plaintiff preferred 

to conduct depositions virtually due to the undersigned counsel’s 

familial health concerns.1

 Defendant’s counsel refused to comply on 

this matter. Though this is a concern, Plaintiff will accommodate an inperson deposition if necessary, however if the purpose of a Deposition 

is to seek discoverable evidence from the parties, then a virtual 

attendance should not obstruct Defendant’s ability to seek such 

information. Whereas it seems that Defendants’ insistence on an inperson deposition indicates an intent to utilize the deposition for 

purposes of abuse. The Union’s upcoming elections for National 

Officers will begin in November and continue until elections are held 

in January.2 Plaintiff believes Defendants seek the deposition in person 

1 The undersigned counsel’s spouse suffers from Stage III Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia/Small Cell Lymphoma –

an incurable form of blood cancer that makes the patient at high-risk of a severe response to Coronovirus. Due to 

the updated strains of the virus and recent release of the updated Coronovirus vaccinations as of September 14, 

2023, counsel’s immediate family were directed to reduce as much exposure to the public as possible until the end 

of 2023. 

2 As previously noted to the Court, APFA continues to pursue Nena Martin and Marcy Dunaway by ordering an 

additional audit of their expenses within the last two months. These audits are based on a union member’s request 

for the audits in October of 2022. The member who requested these audits is Melissa Chinery-Burns, the wife of 

AFA General Counsel, Joe Burns, from the competing union. APFA waited for almost a full year before conducting 

the audit of Nena Martin and Marcy Dunaway. APFA also waited out the discovery period before seeking to confer 

and ultimately demand depositions of Plaintiff, now noticed for the final week of the discovery period. Most 

notably, December is when new candidates, like Nena Martin, Robert “Bob” Ross, and Eugenio Vargas, will 

announce their intent to run for National Office next year. Elections are voted on throughout the month of January 

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and at this time for purposes of harming Plaintiff’s and his political 

faction’s reputation prior to elections. Meanwhile, Defendants fail to 

serve discovery responses and refuse to agree to any extension of the 

discovery period. Defendants seem intent on withholding their 

evidence and avoiding depositions, whilst forcing Plaintiff to be 

deposed, after having fully cooperated and produced all documents in 

his possession, before Defendants even begin to cooperate with 

discovery procedures in any way. Plaintiff, therefore, contends that 

Defendants’ conduct is abusive in that Defendants seek deposition 

testimony for purposes of affecting his political faction’s reputation and 

stifling the democratic election process for National Officers of the 

union. 

20. Finally, in addition to extending the discovery period, Plaintiff seeks 

extension of the dispositive motion deadline due to Defendants’ lack of 

production of vitally important documentation.

Conclusion

21. Based on the above, Plaintiff seeks leave for this Court to extend 

the deadlines for discovery and dispositive motion to that Plaintiff 

has time so conduct adequate discovery and depositions, as well as 

any relief this Court deems appropriate and necessary.

therefore, potential harm in stifling the free speech and the democratic election process within the union heavily 

outweighs the potential benefit of holding depositions within October of 2023. Rather extending the discovery 

period to accommodate the conflicts with discovery, and properly scheduling depositions after January seems the 

reasonable approach in the interest of preserving the integrity of the union’s electoral process. Depositions should 

be scheduled in the month of February to avoid any possible effect on the democratic procedures within the union. 

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Prayer

WHEREFORE, for these reasons, Plaintiff, Eugenio Vargas respectfully asks 

the Court to enter an order granting an extension of the discovery period, and the 

dispositive motions period, and to sustain his objection for scheduling of the 

depositions, and for such other and further relief, at law or in equity, to which Plaintiff, 

Eugenio Vargas may show itself to be justly entitled.

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

By: /s/ Kerri Phillips s 

Kerri Phillips, Esq.

Texas Bar No. 24065906

Phone: (972) 327-5800 

Email: kerri@kdphillipslaw.com

KD PHILLIPS LAW FIRM, PLLC

6010 West Spring Creek Parkway

Plano, Texas 75024

Fax: (940) 400-0089 

For Service of Filings: 

notice@kdphillipslaw.com

 

ATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFF

CERTIFICATE OF CONFERENCE

I hereby certify that, in accordance with Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(2)(B) and Local Rule 

7.1(D), counsel for Defendants has in good faith conferred or attempted to confer with counsel 

for Defendants with regard to the foregoing Motion to Extend Time for Discovery and filing 

of Dispositive Motions without court action. Counsel for APFA, Hedrick, and Harris oppose 

the filing of this Motion. 

By: /s/ Kerri Phillips s 

Kerri Phillips, Esq.

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I certify that on this 19th day of September 2023, a true and correct copy of the foregoing 

document was served on the below listed counsel of record for Defendants by a means permitted 

by Rule 5(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“F.R.C.P.”).

By: /s/ Kerri Phillips s 

Kerri Phillips, Esq.

Jeffrey Bartos

Guerrieri, Bartos, & Roma, P.C. 

1900 M Street, NW, Suite 700

Washington, DC 20036

Tel: (202) 624-7400; Fax: (202) 624-7420 

Email: jbartos@geclaw.com

Charlette Matts

In-House Counsel for APFA

1004 West Euless Blvd

Euless, TX 76040

Tel: (682) 301-8454 

Cmatts@apfa.org

James Sanford

4803 Gaston Avenue

Dallas, TX 75249-1020 

Tel: (214) 800-5111; Fax: (214) 838-

0001 

Email jim@gillespiesanford.com

Email: joe@gillespiesanford.com

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