Jackson City Attorney Drew Martin issued the following statement.
"Last year, the City of Jackson vacated office space it had been using at the Metrocenter mall because of deplorable conditions which endangered city employees working there. The space was owned by Retro Metro LLC, which then sued the city for breach of lease, seeking an additional ten years of payments which would have totaled over $4.5 million.
"Today, the federal court dismissed those breach of lease claims against the city. The federal court also dismissed various claims Retro Metro made against Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, Council President Virgi Lindsay, and council members Brian Grizzell and Vernon Hartley.
"This outcome supports our ongoing commitment to protect the health and safety of our city employees and the public. The citizens of Jackson and our hardworking employees deserve safe and healthy working environments, and we believe no one should be subjected to poor or unsafe conditions. This decision is a positive step toward ensuring that our community and workforce are treated with the respect and care they deserve.
"The Office of the City Attorney remains dedicated to providing the best legal outcomes for the citizens of Jackson and its employees. We are pleased with this result and will continue to prioritize the well-being of our community as we address the remaining issues in this case."
Kingfish note: Read all about the lawsuit in this earlier post. Good job to the city.
The opinion is posted below. The contract was apparently not posted on the minutes of the City Council way back in 2011. Strike 1. Posted below are excerpts of the opinion.
The Mississippi Supreme Court has recognized that “[t]he minutes rule produces harsh results,” Singing River MOB, 342 So." "3d 140, 153 (Miss. 2021) (citing Urb. Devs., 468 F.3d at 300), but it has also “repeatedly provided the simple solution: if you deal with public boards, you must assure that your contracts are recorded in the board minutes.” Id. (citing KPMG, 283 So. 3d at" "669; Wellness, Inc., 178 So. 3d at 1290; Thompson, 352 So. 2d at 796). Plaintiffs failed to do this and must suffer the consequences of that failure. Their breach of contract claim will be dismissed... The Individual Defendants were not properly served with process and plaintiffs have not demonstrated good cause for their failure to timely effect service on these defendants. The returns of service filed by plaintiffs as proof of service on defendants reflect that copies of the summons and complaint were served on “Angela Harris, Municipal Clerk, who is designated by law to accept service of process on behalf of City of Jackson on September 19, 2023.” While this was effective service of process on these defendants in their official capacities, it was not effective service on them in their individual capacities...The Court also denied the plaintiffs' Fifth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment claims.
22 comments:
Not so much a good job by the City (Attorney or otherwise) - but a -poor job by RetroMetro's attorney, now and a decade ago.
City failed to -put contract on the minutes --- another show of incompetence by the gang that can't shoot straight, and a failure by Retro's attorney
Not knowing how to properly serve a defendent, another failure by Retro's attorney.
But thankfully, due to the incompetence of this bunch (both Soc and City), we the citizens haven't been shafted out of another $4 million.
Is this the first case the COJ has ever won?
Kingfish says, "Good job to the city". What the hell did 'the city' do other than show up in court and request a dismissal? Lynn Fitch could probably have handled that.
Socrates suing Chokwe? Man! That's a twist. Will this be the end of Socrates' appointments as Coordinator for city Projects?
Screwed over by Harvey after they did him a favor in his sorry ass attempt to somehow keep MetroCenter alive.
They took a shot. They almost sold (or rented) a piece of worthless trash to an inept city for millions. It was worth a try and you never know, next time they may get away with it. Just keep playing that race card, it could be a winner...next time.
Garrett & Walker better hope like HELL the city employees doesn't come back and bite them in the A%% with a lawsuit with all that black mold. Karma is real
All of this race-injected bullshit with contracts and lawsuits has gotten way old. I'm sick of seeing it. Racism is an onion with many layers. The current gripes do not promote civil rights, rather they further create division. It's asinine, childish and amateur. Racism continues to live on because there's too much money in it. Period.
"This outcome supports our ongoing commitment to protect the health and safety of our city employees and the public. The citizens of Jackson and our hardworking employees deserve safe and healthy working environments, and we believe no one should be subjected to poor or unsafe conditions." - If only that applied to the citizens of Jackson this wouldn't sound like the proverbial pot/kettle.
Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then.
Black folks suing the City of Jackson for racial discrimination. That's interesting...
Collapse the mall and replace with the stadium. Perfect spot
prison, just think of the contraband business opportunities
Let this be a lesson for Leroy. You should have stayed with 'special sauce on a sesame seed bun'.
10:13 Not necessarily. In Jacktown suing the city can get you long term big money contracts. As long as big guy gets some grease i.e. Richards Disposal
G.
Why isn't Reynolds demanding that Metrocenter be torn down? Hmmmmm.
Socrates Garrett, the de facto mayor of Jackson.
Thank you, Drew!!
Back when we had to deliver trash to Metro to get it hauled away, thanks to Lil Choke refusing any garbage proposal without "Richard's" stamped on it, that old dump of a mall had a purpose: to park two or three monster containers to receive bags of trash and a few large ponds in the parking lot for Metro's mosquito and rat biosphere.
Racism, now, is a tool of marxist to destroy the past to reshape the future. The marxist running for president's favorite saying is the clue; What can be, unburdened by what has been.
This is what happens if the palm grease is not thick enough. Right?
This will all be forgotten once Metrocenter is torn down to make way for the new Buc-ee's going there.
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