A week after planning to broaden a lawsuit against the Bibb County school system, plaintiff Brad DeFore and his attorney, Charles E. Cox Jr., agreed to drop the suit altogether.
Cox said Thursday that Superintendent Romain Dallemand’s buyout of $350,000 plus benefits made much of lawsuit’s point disappear. DeFore was challenging the legality of Dallemand’s contract, and Cox said last week that he intended to widen the lawsuit to include complaints about the severance payments.
“If we had continued to litigate the suit, the district would have continued to pay its lawyers, it would have continued to pay Superintendent Dallemand’s personal lawyer. And given the issues remaining in the lawsuit, it just didn’t make sense for Mr. DeFore to continue,” Cox said.
As part of the agreement signed Wednesday, DeFore agreed to drop the lawsuit and not refile it. The agreement also states that “Dallemand’s resignation and Severance Agreement were both accomplished through a proper, lawful, and public vote of the Board on behalf of both itself and the District.”
The school board also agreed to pay $17,046.50 in a single check, which doesn’t say whether it’s for damages, attorney’s fees or both. Cox said that under the lawsuit, “The only basis Mr. DeFore had for making any claim was attorney’s fees.”
DeFore’s suit claimed that the school system illegally granted multiyear employment contracts to Dallemand that violated state constitutional rules against long-term obligations. DeFore also claimed the school system violated the state’s Open Meetings Act by voting on a motion to approve Dallemand’s contract that left out important parts of the contract, such as another $198,000 in termination pay.
Those complaints were never resolved by the court. Under the settlement agreement, the school system does not admit it was at fault.
Cox said the school system has already changed how it writes agendas, a sign that it’s trying to move on. Cox said the school system didn’t guarantee it would follow the laws in the future, but the laws remain in effect. Cox doesn’t expect violations.
“If they’ve been through this, I would be surprised if they did the same thing,” he said.
The school system, school board and Dallemand are still facing several other lawsuits. Macon attorney Daryl Morton said Thursday he’s still trying to settle his lawsuit, which alleges that the school system has ignored his Open Records Act request for more than a year.
Former school board President Gary Bechtel’s lawsuit against Dallemand remains in the courts, alleging that Dallemand illegally put confidential information about Bechtel’s son on the school system’s website.
Former Chief Financial Officer Ron Collier continues to pursue a whistle-blower lawsuit against the school system, which alleges he was punished because he stood up to Dallemand’s demand to cut a $1 million check for a Macon Promise Neighborhood partner. A Superior Court judge rejected Collier’s request to halt rent payments toward a building for the Macon Promise Neighborhood program.
To contact writer Mike Stucka, call 744-4251.
