Ex-Commissioner Horgan, represented by ex-county attorney Bennett, wants Brown to pay back ethics case defense reimbursement
Former Fayette County Commissioner Robert Horgan has filed a motion for summary judgment in his lawsuit against the county and Commissioner Steve Brown.
The motion, dated Jan. 30 and filed in Fulton County State Court, is the latest in Horgan’s complaint that the county improperly reimbursed Brown for just over $2,000 in legal fees relating to a pair of ethics complaints Horgan filed against him in early 2013.
The motion contends that payment of Brown’s attorney fees “was an ultra vires act,” meaning it was beyond the scope of the county government’s authority to do so.
“Plaintiff is entitled to injunctive relief to force the county to end its illegal and ultra vires acts,” according to the motion, adding that Brown “received an unconstitutional gratuity from the county.”
Horgan has also charged that he is entitled to attorney’s fees “because the defendants have no basis in law or fact to defend their actions.”
The ethics board ruled in January of 2013 that Brown violated a provision of the county’s ethics ordinance that prevented commissioners from giving individual directives to employees, but did not penalize Brown, who was cleared of a second ethics charge from Horgan in March of that same year.
The commissioners voted 3-0 in April of 2013 to authorize the funding for Brown’s personal attorney, and Horgan filed suit in June.
Horgan’s initial ethics complaint came in December of 2012, one month after he lost his bid for re-election. He charged that when Brown instructed the county’s human resources director to contact the state attorney general’s office regarding a legal question, he violated the ethics ordinance. Brown said he did so partly because he did not trust the advice of then-county attorney Scott Bennett – who is representing Horgan in the current lawsuit.
Bennett had his own run-ins with Brown during and immediately after his tenure as county attorney.
An investigation took place in early 2013, just after Bennett left his county post, amid allegations that he had official public records wiped from the hard drives of his county-issued computers in violation of the Georgia Open Records Act. This took place after Brown attempted to review documents on Bennett’s computer.
Bennett contended that the data was removed to prevent Brown from snooping for information he could use to discredit Bennett, and that all of his emails were archived in the county’s email system and hard copies of other legal materials were stored in his office.
When asked for a comment on the latest developments in Horgan’s lawsuit, Brown issued the following statement via email:
“I can assure you that both the county government and I are eager to move forward on the lawsuit filed by the disgraced former commissioner Robert Horgan and the discredited and tarnished former county attorney Scott Bennett who is acting as counsel for Horgan.
“I have never in my life seen two people get into more trouble, winding up in a shameful and embarrassing freefall from public life and local government than Horgan and Bennett.
“The local citizens can expect that Horgan’s experiences with illegal drugs will be revealed in the trial. As for Bennett, many people have been waiting to take the wraps off his questionable behavior under oath, being called as a witness, and it could lead to formal complaints for his disbarment.”
