BLYTHEWOOD, S.C. — Sloan Griffin, the newly elected mayor of Blythewood, announced Monday that the town has fired two law firms helping them with different litigation cases.
On November 29, Griffin mailed a contract termination letter to The Law Office of Shannon Burnett, saying their legal services would no longer be needed.
Then, on December 11, the Mayor sent another letter to the Maynard Nexsen law firm to terminate their contract as well.
Maynard Nexsen was handling a defamation and wrongful termination lawsuit from MGA Strategies filed by their Chief Executive Officer, Ashley Hunter.
Judge Clifton Newman was handling the lawsuit and decided to drop it due to the destruction of evidence.
The Maynard Nexus law firm was in the process of working on a settlement giving this statement about the termination saying, "Maynard Nexsen is very proud of the work it did to uncover MPA Strategies and Ashley Hunter's destruction of evidence and the subsequent sanction order signed by Judge Clifton Newman. The order allows the town to recoup the majority of its legal fees and costs against Ashley Hunter and MPA for destruction of evidence."
Hunter sent us this statement earlier today in regards to the law firm's contract being terminated, "After almost 3 years of nefarious spending more than $500,000 behind the public's back, today is an enormous victory for the citizens of Blythewood… as for the lawsuits I look forward to putting the relentless defamatory statements and the continued intimidation tactics from the town's previous mayor and his lawyers behind me."
Mayor Griffin says the spending Hunter is referring to is part of the reason he terminated both contracts.
"My professional opinion is that it's time to move forward, it's time to move on, and it's time to drain the swamp. We've been spending so much money on litigation, and that's just in attorney fees, and in my opinion, we haven't gotten anywhere," Griffin stated.
Griffin sent out documentation along with the termination letters showing $694, 474. 36 spent on lawyers in the last two years.
However, council members like Rich McKenrick believe that the terminations never should have happened.
"Judge Newman found her guilty of destroying evidence and ruled that the attorney handling this case moving forward could sanction her to reimburse the town for our legal fees. The Mayor wants to tout all of the money that has been spent, well by his actions today he just cut the legs out from under Blythewood to try to recoup that money, so it's very odd to me," McKenrick said.
The mayor defended his decision saying under the strong mayor form of government in Blythewood, his actions were in line with what is in his power.
"Respectfully we're going to make sure that everyone on council understands the type of government we have which is the strong mayor form of government," Griffin stated.
Mayor Griffin says his next rule of business will be focused on bringing more quality-of-life improvements to the town.