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Town attorney Bob Hornik told council members at their Jan. 11 meeting that former council member Teresa (Pegram) Perryman, who lost her bid for reelection in November, and former mayoral candidate Danny Nelson, who lost his bid for election in 2019, filed the latest lawsuit; it’s based on a claim that the town improperly spent taxpayer money for the legal defense of former council member Dianne Laughlin.

Laughlin served on the council from 2009-2017 before losing her bid for a third term in November 2017, when Perryman and Rotruck were elected to the council. After serving only four months, Rotruck was ousted, and Laughlin was later appointed to fill his seat until the next election in 2019.

The new lawsuit names these defendants: the Town of Summerfield; former mayor pro tem Dena Barnes and council members John O’Day, Reece Walker and Laughlin (the four council members who voted for the town to pay Laughlin’s legal fees after she was sued by Rotruck for filling his seat on the council); the law firm of former town attorney Bill Hill; and attorney Gray Wilson with Nelson Mullins, who represented the town in other lawsuits filed by Rotruck and his supporters.

According to Summerfield Finance Officer Dee Hall, the town has thus far spent $253,279.93 to defend itself in lawsuits related to Rotruck and his removal from office.

In a conversation with the Northwest Observer earlier this week, Barnes said she was “disgusted and disappointed” by Perryman’s and Nelson’s decision to file another lawsuit.

“How many times do you have to sue somebody, cost the town money and get the same answer?” Barnes asked, referring to several Rotruck-related lawsuits in recent years in which judges have ruled in the town’s favor.

When asked if she’s confident she and other council members acted properly when appointing Laughlin to fill Rotruck’s seat, and later, voting for the town to pay her legal defense fees, Barnes answered emphatically, “Yes!”

“When Todd was removed from office, his seat was vacant,” she said. “We questioned our attorneys and they all said we could do this. We appointed someone who had served the town before and we tried to carry on our business.”

The matter has been before several judges and the rulings have been in the town’s favor, Barnes stressed.

“And now poor Dianne Laughlin has a target on her,” she continued. “We didn’t ask for Dianne to get any money for personal use. Once we’re on the town council, we should be represented by an attorney as we go about our duties. This is just more aggravation and chaos, and they’re trying to keep the town from moving forward… If I could just ask them one question, it would be, ‘Teresa, Danny, what are you really looking for here?’”

Councilman Reece Walker, also a defendant in the most recent lawsuit, said he’s not as upset at being sued as he is about “the waste of time, money and resources. The question has been answered once, and I would be very surprised if they got a different answer to the same question.”

Walker said he also finds it hypocritical that Perryman and Nelson seem concerned about wasting taxpayer dollars, while lawsuits such as this one have cost the taxpayers over $250,000 to date.

“If they were really concerned (about misusing taxpayer dollars), why wouldn’t they just stop?” he asked.

Demands that Perryman and Nelson have included in their lawsuit are that the defendants repay to the town all money spent in legal fees to defend Laughlin; the defendants pay the plaintiffs’ attorney fees and other expenses associated with this lawsuit; and that “a trial by jury be had in all issues so triable.”

When asked to comment for this article, Perryman wrote in an email that she would like to respond and “let the community know,” but she and Nelson could not do so at this time.

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