Chancellor Jeffrey Atherton has ordered that the Hamilton County Commission be added to a lawsuit initially filed by County Attorney Rheubin Taylor against Mayor Weston Wamp, directing the body act as a counter-defendant alongside Taylor.
That comes after Wamp’s attorneys, Barret Albritton and Everett Hixson, questioned the panel’s authority over the hiring and firing of that position in a counterclaim filed in late November. They also stated that Taylor and commissioners were “acting in concert” to keep the county attorney in his job.
Atherton made the decision during a hearing Dec. 2 and has ordered Wamp to serve the commission with his counterclaim.
“Due to certain factual allegations and legal arguments raised in Mayor Wamp’s counterclaim, the court determined that the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners should be classified as a counter-defendant,” Atherton said in an order filed Dec. 13.
According to Wamp’s attorneys, Atherton has added the commission to the lawsuit as an “indispensable party” because the mayor has questioned the authority the panel has over the dismissal of the county attorney.