Over the last several years Simpsonville has been served with numerous lawsuits. The onslaught of litigation against the city has created a challenge for our liability insurance company which provides representation for municipalities served with lawsuits. According to the 2020 budget the premium to pay for this legal representation is just over $300,000 per year.
One of the current lawsuits still pending is the Keith Grounsell wrongful discharge, defamation, and negligence suit. This lawsuit and a countersuit are moving forward and have reached the discovery phase. According to Grounsell’s attorney Paul Porter, in the very near future depositions by sworn testimony from some of the defendants will be scheduled. This starts the most costly phase of the process. Most pleas happen before starting costly depositions and ordering in witnesses.
On August 13 and August 14 executive sessions were held by the Simpsonville City Council. According to City Clerk Phyllis Long, the agenda for the executive sessions simply stated that the Council was to receive legal advice. No action was taken after the Tuesday night session but Council came out of the executive session on Wednesday and voted unanimously to do what they talked about in executive session. In asking for an explanation I was told that nothing could be disclosed that was discussed in executive session.
Stay tuned!♦
