UPDATED for print edition — Former Peachtree City Mayor Harold Logsdon is suing current Mayor Don Haddix over an email to a city staffer in which Haddix said Logsdon “drank a lot and came to meetings drunk.”
Haddix served on the City Council for two years — 2008 and 2009 — while Logsdon was mayor. Haddix ran for mayor in 2009, while Logsdon did not seek reelection.
The email message, written Feb. 22 of this year, was sent to then-economic development coordinator Joey Grisham, according to the lawsuit, which was filed May 19 in Fayette County Superior Court.
Logsdon is accusing Haddix of violating state libel laws, specifically because “defendant knew or should have known the statement was false and erroneous when made.”
Furthermore, Logsdon asked Haddix to retract the statement and Haddix declined, according to the suit.
The suit accuses Haddix of making the statement “with actual malice.”
“The email message has been forwarded to others and has been read by many folks in Peachtree City and in Fayette County and in the state of Georgia,” the lawsuit said.
The suit notes that Haddix’s statement in essence accuses Logsdon of illegal conduct, since it would be a violation of a city ordinance for a person “to be and appear in an intoxicated condition in any public place, including … public buildings offices and all other places generally open to the public.”
While it is generally accepted that it is near impossible to libel an elected official or a “public figure,” it is not clear if that will be a solid defense for Haddix in this case. Since the email was sent Feb. 22, 2011, it happened many months after Logsdon backed out of his campaign to become the state insurance commissioner.
Logsdon bowed out of the campaign due to health reasons.
Logsdon is suing Haddix personally, and not in his official capacity as mayor, which may or may not leave the citizens off the hook for Haddix’s legal defense.
The lawsuit was filed on Logsdon’s behalf by former Peachtree City city attorney Rick Lindsey. Logsdon served as mayor of Peachtree City from January 2006 through December 2009. Haddix served as a council member for two of Logsdon’s four years in office.
Logsdon is asking the court for a jury trial, both compensatory and punitive damages and for all court costs.
The filing of this lawsuit constitutes one side of an issue. At a later date, Haddix will respond specifically to the various allegations.
Attorney Lindsey is no stranger to high profile libel suits. On behalf of his then-law partner James Webb, Lindsey in 2000 filed a libel suit against The Citizen, its publisher Cal Beverly and a then-little-known community activist named Steve Brown. Lindsey announced the lawsuit filing during a City Council meeting.
Brown had written a series of letters to the editor criticizing then-City Attorney Webb. Webb and Lindsey dropped the libel suit after being countersued by The Citizen under a state law meant to stop well-funded developers from intimidating private citizens from exercising their right to political free speech.
Webb and Lindsey are no longer law partners. Brown went on to become mayor of Peachtree City. He currently serves as a Fayette County commissioner.
