LIVINGSTON — The Parish Council has included two executive sessions to discuss lawsuits on the agenda of its final meeting of 2014 Monday night.
The listed discussions include increasing the fee cap for special legal counsel Harold Adkins and a behind-closed-doors session with the District attorney’s legal adviser on two cases, one involving litigation between the parish and former engineer Alvin Fairburn and Associates and the other a payment dispute with former environmental consultant C-DEL.
Adkins was retained by the Council to go to court against Parish President Layton Ricks to force him to honor a Council resolution paying attorney bills for two members being sued privately by Fairburn. Ricks lost that round in 21st Judicial District Court and has filed an appeal with the First Circuit Court, necessitating more legal fees.
Meanwhile, Council defendants Marshall Harris and Cindy Wale also lost a round in 21st Judicial District Court that could necessitate the parish paying attorney fees to the plaintiffs in that case.
21st Judicial District Judge Wayne Ray Chustz on Dec. 4 denied a motion to dismiss the defamation suit against them by Fairburn and former Parish Clerk Mary Kistler based on statements they made during a television interview. Chuztz also ruled that all legal costs connected to that motion must be borne by the defendants.
The defendants argued that statements they made during an interview for WBRZ TV news did not constitute defamation and that the Council members had no control over how the reporters and film editors used portions of those statements to support an investigative story over previous road engineering work opponents believe was not properly authorized.
“Issues of material fact clearly exist in the instant proceeding,” Chustz ruled. “Summary judgement is not appropriate.”
