LARA SOLT/DMN

Juan Carlos Cué Vega spent his first day as Mexico's consul in Dallas addressing concerns about conflicts.

Mexico's new consul, Juan Carlos Cué Vega, said Monday that attorneys for his country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs would pursue legal remedies over a nearly $3.1 million default judgment against the Dallas consulate.

Cué Vega, an attorney trained in Mexico, spent his first day in his new post in Dallas addressing concerns about internal conflicts at the consulate, one of Mexico's largest diplomatic posts in the United States.

Earlier this year, the consulate was the focus of a Mexican government investigation into a passport scam in which the government lost tens of thousands of dollars.

In September, Dallas real estate agent Blake Box won a nearly $3.1 million default judgment after the consulate failed to respond to his 2008 suit alleging breach of contract.

The suit alleged that the consulate backed out of a real estate deal to acquire a new consulate property at 1210 River Bend Drive, in an office park off Interstate 35E. The consulate later used another agent to acquire the property.

U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Dallas ruled that the consulate was properly served with notice of the suit in Mexico City but failed to mount a defense.

"The ministry is handling this through the office of legal counsel," Cué Vega said. "They will give us instructions on how to proceed."

Cué Vega would not specify what type of legal remedies might be sought.

Meanwhile, questions remain among some who serve on an advisory board to the Institute of Mexicans Abroad, an agency created by the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

"The government of Mexico never responded to the suit, and that seems very strange," said Roberto Rosas, a Mexico-trained attorney who teaches at St. Mary's University in San Antonio. He is on the legal affairs committee for the advisory council of the Institute for Mexicans Abroad.

Rosas said there could have been a problem in delivery of the suit in Mexico, possibly because of errors at the Foreign Affairs Ministry.