BLOOMFIELD — An area judge cited Missouri statutes as he dismissed Stoddard County Clerk Cecil Weeks as a defendant in the wrongful termination lawsuit filed by a former employee.
Ginger McCoy had sued Weeks individually and in his official capacity, as well as Stoddard County, after she was fired April 8 for allegedly questioning irregularities in the April 2 municipal election.
Weeks had been accused by the former deputy clerk of certifying the election after being informed two unregistered voters cast ballots in Dexter’s Ward 2. The suit also cited an issue with absentee ballots during the election, which included a Dexter School Board race decided by three votes.
McCoy, who had worked for the clerk’s office for about 13 years at the time she was fired, filed her suit in Stoddard County Circuit Court.
“The court holds that the definition of ‘public employer’ … excludes local and county elected individual government officials …,” said Circuit Judge W. Edward Reeves of New Madrid County.
The definition of public employer was a part of the statute cited by McCoy’s attorneys in the lawsuit.
The claim against Weeks in his individual capacity “must be dismissed,” which Reeves did with prejudice. The claim can not be further pursued by McCoy.
Regarding the claim against Weeks in his official capacity, Reeves found that it was “redundant and duplicative of (McCoy’s) identical claim against defendant Stoddard County,” said Reeves, who ordered that claim stricken.
McCoy’s suit against Stoddard County remains pending. McCoy is seeking compensatory damages, including, but not limited to, lost wages.
In June, an attorney representing the county’s insurance company filed a motion to dismiss or alternatively, a motion to strike Weeks as a defendant in McCoy’s suit.
A hearing on that motion was held Aug. 16 before Reeves. Reeves was assigned by the Missouri Supreme Court to preside over the case after Presiding Circuit Judge Robert Mayer recused himself.
McCoy’s attorney, John Clubb, and the county’s attorney, Keith Henson, argued the case before Reeves and introduced evidence for Reeves’ consideration at the hearing, according to Casenet.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Reeves reportedly took the matter under advisement.
He subsequently issued his judgement and order on Wednesday, after reviewing the memoranda filed by both sides and having heard the earlier arguments.
McCoy, according to Reeves’ judgement and order, brought suit pursuant to what he described as a “relatively new statute.”
That statute, he wrote, creates a civil cause of action for money damages for a “‘public employee,’ who is disciplined by a ‘public employer’ for reporting alleged governmental misconduct.”
McCoy’s petition alleges she was employed by Stoddard County and Weeks in the clerk’s office and further alleges she was terminated from her employment for reporting the alleged election irregularities.
While the court accepted the factual allegations of McCoy’s petition as true, Reeves said, the interpretation of the cited statute is a “question of law rather than a question of fact.”
Weeks, according to Reeves, contends the statute does not extend to him in either his official capacity or his individual capacity because the “statutory definition of ‘public employer’ does not include a county elected public official.”
The statutes, Reeves said, provide for a person who alleges a violation to bring civil action against the public employer for damages.
The statute, he said, specifically defines a public employer as “any state agency or office, the general assembly, any legislative or governing body of the state … .”
Reeves said the statutory language is clear and unambiguous, and the court is required to apply that language.
McCoy, according to earlier reports, also filed a claim with the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office regarding her allegations of election irregularities.
State officials reportedly investigated and later dismissed McCoy’s complaint in May.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control also investigated the allegations for any criminal violations, and its report was submitted to Butler County Prosecuting Attorney Kacey Proctor for review.
Proctor had been appointed special prosecutor to the case.
“After looking through reports and questioning witnesses of my own, I’ve come to the conclusion that I would not be able to meet the elements necessary to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Cecil Weeks willfully and fraudulently certified that election,” Proctor said in July.
The result of the investigations “confirms what we knew all along,” Weeks earlier said. “The election went off like it was supposed to.”