Alexander v. City of Bessemer

142 So. 3d 543, 2013 WL 5663871, 2013 Ala. LEXIS 149
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedOctober 18, 2013
Docket1101455
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 142 So. 3d 543 (Alexander v. City of Bessemer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alexander v. City of Bessemer, 142 So. 3d 543, 2013 WL 5663871, 2013 Ala. LEXIS 149 (Ala. 2013).

Opinions

MURDOCK, Justice.

The City of Bessemer (“the City”) and Bessemer City Councillors Jimmy Stephens, Dorothy Davidson, Sarah W. Bel-cher, and Albert Soles (“the City council-lors”) petition this Court for a writ of mandamus directing the Jefferson Circuit Court to dismiss a claim alleging bad-faith failure to pay legal bills and costs stemming from a complaint filed by former City Councillor Louise Alexander and the law firm of White, Arnold & Dowd, P.C. (“WAD”). The City councillors also petition this Court to dismiss a racial-discrimination claim brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and asserted in the same complaint. We grant in part and deny in part the petition for a writ of mandamus.

I. Facts and Procedural History

The plaintiffs allege that in 2006 and 2007 Alexander received three donations from a Tuscaloosa real-estate developer, which were properly used for charitable projects in Alexander’s district. During this same period, according to the complaint, two other City councillors, Davidson and Belcher, received similar donations from the same individual for charitable projects in their respective districts. According to the complaint, however, beginning in the early spring of 2007, plaintiff Alexander opposed several projects which the donor had proposed to the City and, therefore, the donor “vowed to retaliate against ... Alexander.” The complaint alleges that, because of the donor’s complaint to then Attorney General Troy King, a five-count indictment against Alexander was filed in August 2008 alleging violations of the Alabama Ethics Law, specifically Ala.Code 1975, § 36-25-5(a). That indictment essentially charged Alexander with [545]*545using her office to solicit funds and then using those funds for her personal gain. The complaint asserts that similar charges were not brought against City Councillors Davidson and Belcher.

WAD represented Alexander during her criminal proceedings. Alexander was ultimately acquitted.

Alexander and WAD allege that the City has a “policy and practice” of paying legal fees of city officials charged with crimes relating to the fulfilment of their official duties if and when they are found to be not guilty of those crimes. They assert that the most recent example of the City following this practice was the case of then City Councillor Betty Woods, who was charged with six counts of violating the Aabama Ethics Law, by using her office for personal gain and by soliciting things of value. According to Aexander and WAD’s complaint, in 2006, after Woods was found not guilty of the charges against her, the City paid her legal fees.1

WAD and Aexander allege that Aexan-der’s lead counsel, U.W. demon, appeared before the Bessemer City Council (“the City Council”) on May 26, 2009. Clemon presented the City Council with a bill for legal services rendered by WAD to date on Aexander’s behalf and requested that the City pay that bill. According to Aexander and WAD, in response to the presentation of the partial bill and request for its payment, the City attorney “represented that it was the policy and practice of the City to pay the legal expenses of a city official, but only after the official had been cleared of the charges.” Aexander and WAD further allege that, in reliance upon the City attorney’s representation and the fact of the City’s compliance with that policy and practice in the 2006 case involving Woods, WAD continued its work representing A-exander and deferred payments of its bills until such time as a successful outcome of the case might be achieved for Aexander. Aexander and WAD allege that the meeting concluded with all the City councillors aware of the “understanding that if and when Aexander was found not guilty, her counsel would be paid.”

Approximately eight months later, Aex-ander’s case proceeded to trial, and the jury acquitted Aexander on all charges.

On February 12, 2010, WAD submitted to the City Council a legal bill in the amount of $867,593.91. Councillor Stephens requested an advisory opinion from the general counsel of the Aabama Ethics Commission (“the Ethics Commission”) regarding whether the City could pay Aex-ander’s legal expenses. On April 7, 2010, the Ethics Commission issued an opinion in which it took the position that the City was legally prohibited from paying Aexan-der’s legal expenses.2 See Aabama Ethics Commission Advisory Op. No. 2010-04. According to the minutes of the February 16, 2010, meeting of the City Council, Councillor Jesse Matthews “made a motion to pay the amount of $367,593.51 to the Law office of White Anold & Dowd, P.C. on behalf of Councillor Louise Aexander. The motion did not receive a second and therefore the motion died.”

[546]*546On February 18, 2010, an attorney with WAD sent the City attorney a revised bill that included time that had been inadvertently omitted from the previous bill, bringing the total amount of Alexander’s legal expenses to $373,348.91. At a City Council meeting on February 23, 2010, Councillor Matthews introduced a copy of an Ethics Commission advisory opinion dated March 5, 1997, which concluded that a public official charged with violating the Ethics Law and who was cleared of wrongdoing could not obtain reimbursement for legal expenses from the State because no proper corporate interest was involved. See Alabama Ethics Commission Advisory Op. No. 97-15. After summarizing the finding of the advisory opinion, Councillor Matthews stated that the “the payment of attorney fees will possibly have to be resolved in court.” According to the plaintiffs’ first amended complaint, the resolution to pay Alexander’s legal bill was on the agenda again for the City Council meeting held on March 2, 2010, but the resolution died for lack of a vote.

On March 16, 2010, Alexander and WAD sued the City and the City councillors, individually and in their official capacities,3 in the Jefferson Circuit Court, alleging failure to pay Alexander’s legal expenses. On April 15, 2010, the City and the City councillors filed motions to dismiss the complaint. Alexander and WAD subsequently filed a first amended complaint in which they asserted the following claims: (1) arbitrary and capricious conduct based on the defendants’ alleged breach of a legal duty to pay Alexander’s legal bills arising from Art. I, § 2.1, Bessemer City Ordinances; (2) bad-faith and wanton failure to pay legal bills “with full knowledge that [Alexander’s] case meets all of the requirements of City of Montgomery v. Collins, 355 So.2d 1111 (Ala.1978)”; (3) failure to pay legal bills based on a mistaken interpretation of law through reliance on an erroneous advisory opinion of the Ethics Commission; (4) bad faith and unjust enrichment; (5) breach of an implied contract based on an alleged policy of the City that “when a councilor solicits and receives private funds for a project in his/ her district, and the donated funds are paid into the Department of Revenue, the councilperson will be reimbursed for the expenses of the project up to the amount of the donated funds”; (6) fraudulent conduct based on the City councillors’ telling Alexander’s counsel that WAD’s bill would be paid once the criminal case was over if Alexander was found not guilty; (7) a judgment declaring that the defendants willfully violated Art. I, § 2.1, Bessemer City Ordinances; and (8) various claims against fictitiously named defendants.

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Bluebook (online)
142 So. 3d 543, 2013 WL 5663871, 2013 Ala. LEXIS 149, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alexander-v-city-of-bessemer-ala-2013.