An appellate court in Houston on Tuesday allowed a claim to proceed by a former court administrator, who alleged that Galveston County had “bugged” attorney-client meeting rooms at the local jail.

Rejecting the county’s argument that jail recordings do not violate the law, the Fourteenth Court of Appeals ruled that plaintiff Bonnie Quiroga had a valid claim under the Texas Whistleblowers Act when she alleged that County Judge Mark Henry fired her for reporting on the jail recordings.