Crawford Coroner could be ordered to pay county nearly $107,000 for legal fees

KNOXVILLE -- Suspended Crawford County Coroner Allen O’Neal and his attorney could be ordered to pay Crawford County nearly $107,000.

The figure includes $70,667 that the county has incurred in legal fees defending itself against a lawsuit O’Neal filed last year.

O’Neal sought a judge’s order that would require the county to provide him an office, a car, Internet access and fax equipment at his home as well as other items or money to carry out his job duties.

But the total sought by the county also includes $36,183 that Crawford officials have paid O’Neal’s lawyer, Michelle Smith.

Tripp Self -- the Superior Court judge who dismissed O’Neal’s suit May 4, saying it lacked merit -- heard arguments about the fee issue Friday.

The law allows a judge to order that a plaintiff -- such as O’Neal -- to pay the opposing side’s legal fees in cases found to be without “substantial justification” and frivolous, argued Natalie Stroud, one of the county’s lawyers.

“The plaintiff filed this suit without determining whether there were any potential issues of fact involved,” she said.

In his ruling dismissing O’Neal’s suit in May, Self wrote that the decision wasn’t a close call.

He cited O’Neal’s own testimony at a deposition in which he said he didn’t “need an office.”

Self also wrote that O’Neal failed to give any evidence of any coroner suffering from contamination of a personal vehicle with bodily fluids. That’s a reason O’Neal cited for wanting the county to provide him a car.

The law didn’t require Crawford County commissioners to pay for O’Neal to hire a lawyer, but they voted to do so in “a good faith attempt ... to end bickering” and reach a quicker resolution, Stroud said.

Smith maintained O’Neal shouldn’t have to pay back money the county didn’t have to pay in the first place.

“The county could have said no,” she said.

Another of the county’s attorneys, Duke Groover, said the principle of the law in a situation such as O’Neal’s is both to provide punishment for “bad behavior” and to “compensate” a party that has defend itself against such a suit.

“He didn’t have to file a suit to talk. He didn’t have to file a suit to have a discussion about what his rights are,” Groover said. “He chose to (file suit), and now he has to pay the consequences for doing it.”

Groover asked that the judge order both O’Neal and Smith to pay both legal bills.

If Self ordered O’Neal -- and possibly Smith -- to pay for both sides of the legal battle, it would be “plowing new ground” in Georgia case law, the judge said.

The hearing ended without Self ruling on the matter.

Earlier this month, Gov. Nathan Deal issued an executive order suspending O’Neal from office pending the outcome of criminal charges lodged against him -- or the expiration of his term, whichever happens first.

O’Neal was indicted about two months ago on two counts alleging that he violated his oath of office by not responding to a death call May 2 and firing a deputy coroner because he did respond.

No trial date has been set. O’Neal’s term in office is set to expire Dec. 31, 2016.

O’Neal has proclaimed his innocence since his arrest.

Robert Cody has been serving as acting coroner since May 11.

To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398 or find her on Twitter@awomackmacon.

This story was originally published August 28, 2015 at 4:34 PM with the headline "Crawford Coroner could be ordered to pay county nearly $107,000 for legal fees ."