posted November 13, 2007
Mayor Ron Littlefield said Tuesday afternoon he has concluded that he would lose in court on the issue of benefits for former City Councilwoman Marti Rutherford. Accordingly, he said Ms. Rutherford will not be getting city retirement medical benefits.
Mayor Littlefield said attorney Walter Williams did extensive research on the case and found a Sequatchie County case directly on point.
Ms. Rutherford announced in early October she was resigning after a residency flap. Later, the mayor hired Ms. Rutherford for three days of work in an attempt to make her eligible for the benefits. That got her to her 62nd birthday on Nov. 3.
However, council members vowed to fight the issue and hired attorney Roger Dickson.
Mayor Littlefield said he would not hire counsel, then later hired attorney Williams. Both attorneys were being paid $250 an hour from city funds.
The mayor called the result "a tragic circumstance for Ms. Rutherford."
But he said he was glad "to finally put the matter to rest."
Mayor Littlefield, with attorney Williams beside him and with attorney Dickson present, read this statement to the City Council:
I will not attempt to restate the points involved in the very painful and contorted case regarding the resignation of Councilwoman Rutherford. As we all know, both sides have retained capable special counsel and I hope that we have been moving forward in a mutual desire to get to the bottom of the issue.
In that regard, let me say that Attorney Walter Williams who was retained last week to represent the administration has conducted careful research and informed me in detail of the results. In the beginning, it appeared that decisions in case law favored Ms. Rutherford in the sense that she might be given latitude in determining the date and conditions of her resignation. However, Mr. Williams has ultimately found and today made me aware of a case so particularly on-point that I must concede that the matter has been previously determined by the courts and there is little if any reason to pursue the matter further. Accordingly, I have advised our human resources administrator of this finding and have instructed the department to take appropriate measures to honor the actions of the City Council confirming that the date of Ms. Rutherford’s exit from her position shall be as stated in their Resolution of October 9, 2007.
In Ms. Rutherford’s case, it appears that her earlier verbal statement of resignation can be successfully enforced by the City Council, if that is their choice. This is a tragic circumstance for Ms. Rutherford since anything resulting in a very brief delay of the action would most certainly have allowed her to achieve the age of 62 and thereby qualify as a retiree under provisions of the city code and charter.
Notably, I have also been assured by our counsel that the city should be on safe legal ground in regards to age discrimination issues and other employment matters that conceivably extend from this case.
The 1971 case of Bailey vs. Greer pertained to a disagreement among members of the Sequatchie County Court and County Judge Tom Greer. Interestingly, this was early in my career with the State of Tennessee and I knew many of the individuals involved – though not the particulars of the case. Most interestingly and ironically, among the lawyers engaged in this case was a young attorney Randall L. Nelson. – our City Attorney.
In any event, let me conclude by stating that the administration does not wish to retest the issue in the courts. It is now time to put this matter behind us and move forward.
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