The war over words between Judge Carlos Cortez and attorney Coyt Randal “Randy” Johnston recently moved to a new field of battle.

On May 21, Cortez filed a verified petition to take deposition before suit in Dallas County’s 116th District Court seeking to depose Johnston, who lodged a complaint against Cortez with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct last year. In the verified petition, Cortez asks that the “administrative judge appoint a judge from outside Dallas County, who is not related to or friends with either party, to hear this petition.”