A second lawsuit filed by longtime District 3 Supervisor Columbus Hankins against his opponent Amos J. “Jeff” Johnson, who defeated him in the Aug. 8 Primary Election, will fall on deaf ears.
A second hearing was scheduled to be heard at 10 a.m. on Nov. 16, but was later rescheduled for Nov. 30, in Grenada County Circuit Court where Special Judge Albert B. Smith III was to preside once again. However, Hankins’ Jackson-based attorney John R. Reeves confirmed last week that the lawsuit had been dropped.
“The parties agreed to dismiss that suit voluntarily,” he said last Thursday afternoon. “A voluntary dismissal was filed about two weeks ago.”
Johnson’s attorney Carlos Palmer of Greenwood explained last week how the dismissal ensued.
“I filed a motion to dismiss and, along with it, I filed a Memorandum of Law to support the motion to dismiss,” Palmer explained. “The Memorandum of Law is basically like a brief that outlines what the law is and why the outcome should be in favor of your client. Then, I came back and filed a Good Faith Letter, which told counsel opposite that the lawsuit or the election contest of qualifications was frivolous and was based upon a frivolous premise for a law, and giving him an opportunity to voluntarily dismiss. Otherwise, we would seek sanctions against him and for his client. I think within the next day or so, they dismissed it voluntarily.”
The first lawsuit filed by Hankins contesting Johnson’s August Primary Election win was dismissed by Judge Smith on Oct. 19, at the Grenada County Courthouse. At that hearing, Judge Smith did not allow Reeves to put on his case deeming it frivolous. He later ordered Reeves to pay $5,000 to Johnson’s attorney Carlos Palmer of Greenwood for filing the challenge.
“The Court Order clearly indicates that the lawsuit should have never been filed and that it was frivolous in nature,” Palmer said at the time. “Mr. Hankins even affirmed that he had received a letter from the Democratic Executive Committee that his challenge on the same grounds was too late and that letter was back in May.”
Hankins’ lawsuit questioned Johnson’s qualifications strongly based on his residency in District 3. Judge Smith ruled that if this was the case, the 10-day challenge period following the Jan. 31, qualifying deadline should have been utilized.
Johnson defeated Hankins in the Primary by more than 100 votes – 492 to 386 or 56.04 percent of the votes to 43.96 percent. The Nov. 7 General Election results were certified last Thursday where Johnson garnered 1,225 votes or 98.55 percent in the uncontested race. Eighteen Write-In votes made up the remaining 1.45 percent.
