To Resolve $145.88 Dispute, Sheriff Retains Law Firm, Winds Up with $5,370.67 Legal Bill
The amount at issue was less than $150, representing part of the amount paid by Beaufort County, N.C., for a gym membership for a sheriff’s deputy.
When asked to reimburse the department after he was fired, Tony Keech refused. And, by the time the largest law firm in North Carolina had litigated the matter to judgment in small claims court and an appeal was filed, legal fees had upped the ante to well over $5,000, reports the Beaufort Observer.
Keech has now withdrawn his appeal to Beaufort District Court, which has the effect of upholding the small claims judgment of $245.88, including $100 in court costs. However, it has been paid by the county in exchange for Keech’s dropping his appeal.
Meanwhile, the county has apparently also paid a $5,370.67 legal bill from the Winston-Salem office of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice concerning the case.
In a meeting earlier this month, the Board of Commissioners voted to require that any future decision to bring in an outside law firm must be approved by Beaufort County’s governing body.
The article doesn’t include any comment from Womble Carlyle.
