San Antonio attorney Allan Manka has run out of road at the intermediate appellate level after a state court upheld a multimillion-dollar verdict finding he groped opposing counsel in a courthouse lobby. The Fourth Court of Appeals let stand a $5 million award from a September 2024 trial, including $3 million for past mental anguish and $2 million for future mental anguish. What began with a 2019 courthouse confrontation has since spun off into a criminal case, a divorce and a flurry of property transfers tied to efforts to avoid enforcement of the judgment.
Appeals Court Affirms Verdict
The Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio rejected every argument Manka raised on appeal and affirmed the judgment in a memorandum opinion filed May 13. According to the opinion posted on Justia, the panel concluded the jury had enough evidence to find both assault by offensive contact and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The court also found Manka failed to show reversible error on his challenges to the damages award, the trial court’s dismissal of his counterclaims, or the trial court’s handling of his post-verdict pleadings.
What Jurors Saw At Trial
During a three-day Bexar County trial in September 2024, jurors reviewed courthouse security footage and heard testimony describing how Manka moved next to Houston attorney Michelle Acosta in the Wilson County Courthouse lobby, slid his hand across her lower back and later grabbed and squeezed her left buttock. The Texas Lawbook reported that the appeals panel found sufficient evidence to submit both the assault and intentional-infliction claims to the jury and to support the sizable mental-anguish damages. Jurors did not find Manka acted with malice, so they declined to award punitive damages on top of the $5 million.
Criminal Plea, Divorce And Asset Moves
Acosta reported the June 13, 2019 encounter at the Wilson County Courthouse in Floresville, and a deputy later filed a class C misdemeanor assault-by-contact charge, according to the San Antonio Express-News. Manka ultimately pleaded no contest to that charge and received deferred adjudication with a $400 fine and a $100 donation. That criminal disposition was not presented to the civil jury. Days after the civil verdict, his wife filed for divorce. Public property records reviewed in reporting show that, under a December 2024 mediated settlement, the couple transferred two residential properties to Karen Manka. The Bexar Central Appraisal District places a combined value of nearly $975,000 on those homes.
Appeal And Enforcement
Court filings and reporting show Manka filed a notice of appeal in February 2025 but did not post a supersedeas bond, which meant the judgment remained enforceable while the appeal played out. The Fourth Court of Appeals’ May 13 memorandum opinion, available on Justia, rejected all five issues Manka raised and left the trial court’s judgment intact. Manka can still seek rehearing at the Fourth Court or ask the Texas Supreme Court to review the case, but those are narrowing options in light of the appellate panel’s across-the-board ruling.
Legal Fallout For Lawyers
The Texas Lawbook quoted Acosta’s lawyers as saying the case is about accountability and that the appellate decision validates the jury’s view of the evidence. Because the jury found intentional wrongdoing, Acosta’s counsel told the San Antonio Express-News they do not expect Manka’s professional-liability insurer to cover the award, which raises the stakes for collections, liens and other enforcement tools. The appellate panel’s discussion of mental-anguish precedent also gives trial courts and juries a clearer blueprint for calculating damages in similar cases.
With the appeals court’s ruling now on the books, the focus shifts to whether Manka will ask for rehearing or Texas Supreme Court review and to how aggressively Acosta moves to collect. The case has already triggered a divorce settlement and significant property transfers, and lawyers say its outcome is likely to influence how attorneys conduct themselves in courthouse hallways and family law dockets around Bexar County. For now, a large civil judgment remains in place and a long-running feud appears all but settled at the appellate level.
