Montgomery City Council Sued By Former Councilwoman
Former Councilwoman Marche Johnson filed a lawsuit against the Montgomery City Council because they voted to vacate her seat. In the suit, she claims that she was not given due process. She is not looking to get her seat back, but is seeing financial compensation.
I watched the live stream of this Council sessions and remember the City Clerk saying that the Council would have to take a vote in case she files a case for Circuit Court. Next thing we know, she files a case in Circuit Court.
Some people have said that she should be allowed to buy a property in another district, and she is legally allowed to do that. Problem is that the property purchased, is claimed as a homestead, which is only allowed for the primary residence. Also when you hold public office, you have to live in the district that you represent.
I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV. I can read the law and make some sense of it. I am predicting one of the three outcomes will probably happen.
Outcome 1
The case is settled out of court. She gets paid and the evidence against her does not get presented to the court. The public will not know which District she really is a resident of.
Outcome 2
The court rules that she is a resident of District 3 and she gets paid by the Council. The evidence used in this case (e.g. lease agreements, utility bills, etc.) could then be used against her by the State or the VA or both.
From a State of Alabama perspective, this evidence could be used to file charges against her for property tax evasion. In this scenario, she would owe back taxes due to claiming the homestead exemption, but that not being her primary residence. In additional to financial penalties. Depending on the dollar amount owed, she could see jail time (less than 1 year).
From a VA / Federal perspective, this evidence could be used to file charges against her for mortgage fraud. One of the VA loan requirements is that the loan be used for your primary residence. With District 3 being her primary residence, and the house being in District 7, she would violate this VA rule and thus could be charged accordingly. Penalties include having to pay fines related to the fraud, the property possibly being seized (the VA taking the property from her), and her facing federal prison time (crimes related to money can result in felony charges).
Outcome 3
The court rules she is a resident of District 7 and she does not get paid.
She will have to foot the attorney bill, and possibly court costs for the lawsuit. Not to mention the embarrassment
Conclusion
Question from the outcome where she gets paid, is who will pay for this. Does it come out of each Councilor's discretionary money (which is provided by the city) or does the city pay for this directly?
To be honest, this hole keeps getting bigger and there is not a ladder in sight. With 2 out of 3 odds not working in her favor, there must be a very strategic plan that she and her attorney has. In my opinion, her seat being vacated by the Council, should have been the last chapter in this story.