Dallas City Wire

Judge David Hanschen was so impressed with Andrea Plumlee’s presentation as a litigator at the courthouse in 1996 that he could not resist telling her how thorough and competent she was.

“I've never spoken to her for another six or seven years after that because she went off and did a lot of work in juvenile,” said Hanschen. “I was just really amazed and impressed and that doesn't happen often.”

When Plumlee became more politically active in the Democratic party, the 70-year-old judge said he ran into her once or twice. 

“She was considering running for a position so I told her that I would appoint her as a visiting associate judge to handle Child Protective Services cases,” said Hanschen, who adds he is neither a Democrat nor Republican voter but rather Independent. “She was just an informal appointment 14 years ago. That was about it.”

When asked about his track record as a judge, Hanschen said he’d only had two complaints filed against him with the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

“One was dismissed without even a hearing because it was so stupid and after I responded to the second one, it was dismissed,” he said.

Hanschen has since stepped down as a judge and returned to lawyering, even appearing in Judge Plumlee’s courtroom representing clients, but he doesn’t feel that appointing Plumlee as an associate judge nearly 15 years ago is a conflict of interest.

“We're cordial but we never socialize or communicate ex-parte,” Hanschen told the Dallas City Wire.

As recently as May 29, 2020, Judge Plumlee has been accused in the press of playing favorites among attorneys litigating in her courtroom.

One of her alleged favorite attorneys was appointed to many cases in her courtroom and earned approximately $140,000 in fees, as previously reported.  Judge Plumlee also allegedly takes most of her direction from a former judge, currently an attorney, whom other attorneys will go to for favors before they appear in her courtroom.

Judge Plumlee did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but Hanschen emphatically denied any influence over Plumlee.

“The only sway I have with Plumlee is she knows that I won't lie to her because if I lied to her one time, the trust is over,” Hanschen said in an interview. “Many lawyers will say just about anything in the court room or even lie. I tell the truth.”

When asked about his rumored romantic relationship with retired Judge Lynn Cherry, which allegedly led him to drop out of a campaign for judgeship so as not to compete with Cherry, Hanschen denied it. 

“Lynn and I are friends. We never dated,” he said. “There was never any kind of romantic involvement with Lynn. We heard those rumors when we were both judges on the bench together and we just laughed about it at the time. It’s incredibly stupid. People fabricate things.”