Texts cited in suit suggest conflict for a Harris County district judge
Text messages have revealed a prior working relationship between prominent businessman Ali Choudhri and state District Judge Brittanye Morris, who is presiding over a case involving the Houston real estate developer, plaintiffs allege in court documents.
Investigative consultant Wayne Dolcefino first reported the possible conflict after Morris last week halted arbitration in the lawsuit, siding with Choudhri’s attorneys. The next day, the judge denied a motion to recuse herself from the case.
The suit, filed in 2012, goes back even years before, when commercial property owner MokaramLatif West Loop Ltd. alleged that Choudhri demolished an entire floor of a Mokaram building at the Interstate 610 West Loop and Westheimer — without first signing a lease. That case has stretched almost a decade and includes hundreds of pages of court filings.
Judge Daryl Moore presided over the case until he left the bench late last year, after Morris defeated him in the 2020 primary. Moore had ordered that both sides enter arbitration.
When Morris took the bench, Choudhri’s attorneys asked her to stay the arbitration proceedings and Mokaram’s attorneys countered with a motion to recuse her from the proceedings, saying the judge has previously helped the developer on legal matters.
Choudhri’s attorneys and Ali Mokaram’s attorneys declined to comment and deferred to court records. Morris has not responded to a request for comment.
In the motion for recusal, Mokaram detailed text messages between Morris and the Choudhri-owned Jetall Companies’ thenChief Operating Officer Chris Wyatt, all taking place in September and October 2020. Mokaram’s attorneys claimed that Wyatt was acting as Choudhri’s representative to defend the claims in arbitration, and Morris was helping him.
“It would clearly be improper for Judge Morris to preside over the claims in this case, as she has been representing and/or advising Respondents against Mokaram as recently as a few months ago in this same matter,” the attorneys wrote.
Choudhri’s attorneys called the allegations frivolous attempts to fabricate evidence, which they said were also obtained through improper means. Even if the texts are genuine, they said, the motion for recusal was a “desperate hit job” that only showed Morris being helpful in the manner that any future judge should be.
“The reality is this: Mokaram and Abdullatif are engaged in ‘evidence laundering,’ ” they said in court documents. “They illegally obtained evidence.”
Osama Abdullatif, the “Latif” in Mokaram-Latif, is associated with Mokaram and involved in the lawsuit.
Some of the texts in late September show Morris sharing with Wyatt contact information and links for three other attorneys’ contacts. She said she was “willing to help out behind the scene, to organize or facilitate,” the record shows.
“Ali needs to run his company and make deals,” the text reads. “Just let me know where I can be of assistance.”
The motion to recuse Morris also alleges that the judge — then a civil litigation attorney — made two appearances in 2020 during Choudhri’s court cases, sitting with his attorneys and conferring with them in private attorney rooms on breaks.
Choudhri disputed all allegations raised in the motion to recuse, including that Morris was ever retained, paid or officially made an appearance on his or his companies’ behalf . Wyatt, who no longer works for Choudhri, also told the court that Morris worked with him on an advisory capacity in the arbitration, and that she had an office in the Jetall offices where she would work from time to time.