Press Release

Case Headed back to DeKalb County Superior Court for further litigation
and a portion of the decision is being appealed to the Supreme Court
Georgia Court of Appeals Decision July 1, 2022
Williams v. DeKalb Cnty., No. A22A0508 (Ga. Ct. App. Jul. 1, 2022)
https://casetext.com/case/williams-v-dekalb-cnty-1

The trial court erred in considering the affidavits attached to the

commissioners' answer to Williams' third amended complaint in reviewing the
commissioners' motion for judgment on the pleadings, without properly
converting the motion to one for summary judgment Therefore, we vacate that
portion of the trial court's order granting the motion for judgment on the
pleadings and remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings
consistent with this opinion. We affirm the trial court's order rejecting Williams'
request to conduct an in camera review of certain e-mails between various
commissioners and the county attorney, we conclude that Williams did not show any
particular harm related to Thurmond's enforcement of the salary ordinance and, as a
result, we affirm that portion of the trial court's order granting Thurmond's motion
to dismiss Williams' third amended complaint.
Judgment affirmed in part, vacated in part, and case remanded.
The case Williams v. DeKalb County (Williams II) will be appealed to Georgia
Supreme Court for the 2nd time, while a portion will be remanded back to DeKalb
Superior Court for further litigation.
Case History

Notice is hereby given that Edward E. Williams Plaintiff in the above-named

action, hereby appeals to the Supreme Court from the judgment in the Case #
18CV8645 Edward E. Williams v. DeKalb County, et. al, in the DeKalb County
Superior Court Dismissal Order with Prejudice entered herein on 20th May 2021.
This is the second time Plaintiff has appealed his case to the Supreme Court. A
discretionary application was filed on February 27, 2019 in the Supreme Court of
Georgia and was granted on March 15, 2019. See O.C.G.A. § 5-6-35(j). The case
Docket # S19D0835. A notice of appeal was filed on March 21, 2019 in
DeKalb Superior Court for the case S19A1163 argued on October 22, 2019 before
the Georgia Supreme Court by the UGA Appellate Clinic. The Supreme Court issued
a decision on March 13, 2020 where the case was remanded back to the Superior
Court. The Supreme Court remittitur was affirmed in DeKalb Superior Court on June
10, 2020. A remittitur order was issued by Judge Gregory Adams in DeKalb
Superior Court on June 22, 2020. A hearing was held on April 14, 2021. The trial
court Judge Alford Dempsey dismissed all claims with prejudice on May 20, 2021.
Plaintiff files this notice of a direct appeal of a final judgment concerning an
unconstitutional county ordinance to the Georgia Supreme Court. See O.C.G.A § 5-
6-34, and Article 6, § 6, ¶ (2)(1). On June 17, 2021 a notice of appeal was filed and
the case was docketed in the Supreme Court. The case was transferred to the
Georgia Court of Appeals and docketed on October 25, 2021.
Williams sued DeKalb County and members of its governing authority, the Chief
Executive Officer and the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners, in their official
and individual capacities (collectively, "Appellees").[1] In his complaint, Williams
challenged in a variety of ways the legality of a DeKalb County ordinance in 2018,
which increased the salaries of the members of the county governing authority,
setting forth claims for mandamus, declaratory and injunctive relief, criminal and
civil penalties for violating the Open Meetings Act, and attorney fees and costs of
litigation.

Williams v. DeKalb County case was docketed in the Georgia Court of Appeals on
October 25, 2021, A previous case was docketed in the Supreme Court on May 1,
2019. An unconstitutional compensation ordinance to increase the DeKalb County
governing authority members' salary by 60% and Open Meeting Act violation will
be heard for a second time.
The case was docketed A22A0508
https://www.gaappeals.us/docket/results_one_record.php?docr_case_num=A2
2A0508

DeKalb County Commission Pay Raise case argued before the Georgia Court
of Appeals The UGA Appellate Clinic argued the case.
A22A0508 EDWARD E. WILLIAMS v. DEKALB COUNTY et al
Tuesday, February 08, 2022, 1:30 PM Nathan Deal Judicial Center, 2nd Floor
Questions before the court are whether Williams has standing to make a
constitutional challenge without a declaratory judgment to stop the pay raise against
the DeKalb CEO Michael Thurmond. The County is arguing that WIlliams was not
injured or harmed and that official and statutory immunity protects commissioners
from the Open Meeting Act violations. The County also argues that its acts are
assumed to be lawful and therefore not illegal. Williams argues that he has citizen-
taxpayer standing and does not need to show harm or personalized injury, where
public funds or performance of a duty is without authority and is unlawful. The
County believes that because Williams only is seeking an injunction and does not
have a declaratory judgment claim that he cannot make an unlawful or
unconstitutional challenge to determine whether the county act is unlawful. Williams
argues that the court has inherent authority under the review clause of the
constitution to determine whether acts are in violation of constitutional provisions
or statutes where there is a question of law and does not require a declaratory
judgment because he is not seeking a declaration of his rights that affect his future
conduct. . In regards to the Open Meetings Act violations, Official and statutory
immunity does not protect public officials for injunction relief to stop future acts that
are a continuation of past acts that are unlawful or unconstitutional. The County is
wrong because for several reasons. Official immunity applies to those claims where
damages are being sought for acts that have already been completed and were
discretionary acts that are part of the public official duty An authorized civil
penalties, court costs, and legal fees are not claims for damages and compliance with
the Open Meetings Act is not discretionary for public officials and agencies. Many
of these issues were reviewed by the Georgia Supreme Court of the first appeal,
however, A DeKalb Superior Court judge dismissed the case for a second time, thus
this second appeal.

The case was initially argued in the Georgia Supreme Court on Oct 22, 2019
S19A1163
https://www.gasupreme.us/watch/oa-10-22-19/

Case Background Williams v. DeKalb County A22A0508

Student Lawyers Take on Attorneys, After DeKalb Commissioners Give

Themselves a 60% Raise -- Law.com Daily Reporter
https://www.law.com/dailyreportonline/2022/02/09/student-lawyers-take-on-
attorneys-after-dekalb-commissioners-give-themselves-a-60-raise/ February 09,
2022 at 05:37 PM Cedra Mayfield

A Plaintiff sued the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners for violating

the Georgia Open Meetings Act, when they voted to raise members' salaries
by 60
https://www.gacities.com/Resources/Legal-Database/2020-2024/Williams-v-
DeKalb-Cty.aspx

The Georgia Supreme Court ruled (7-1) on the DeKalb 60 percent pay raise
case on Friday, March 13, 2020, Williams v. DeKalb County, 308 Ga 265 840
S.E.2d 423, 433 (Ga. 2020) found that Dr. Ed Williams’ lawsuit against the
DeKalb County Governing Authority can go forward and that the commission
can be sued for Open Meeting violations and that CEO Michael Thurmond was
prematurely dismissed from the case, The complaint consisted of (10) ten
counts, five open meeting violations, and five counts related to charter,
statutory and constitutional violations law.

Williams v. DeKalb County S19A1163 (March 13, 2020) stated that “a citizen-
taxpayer has standing in equity to restrain public officers from performing acts
which the law does not authorize. However, absent expenditures of public
revenue or performance of a duty owed to the public [,] a citizen-taxpayer has
no standing in equity unless [he or] she has special damages not shared by the
general public.”

On March 13, 2020 the Supreme Court overturned the ruling of the DeKalb
County trial court Judge Gregory Adams.

The Supreme Court of Georgia partially ruled in favor of Dr. Ed Williams who
sued the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners for raising members’ salaries
by 60 percent. In the lawsuit, Dr. Williams claimed in part that the board
violated the Georgia Open Meetings Act by not giving proper notice of its intent
to pass the pay increase.
In August 2018, Dr. Williams sued the county and the others, claiming the
board violated the Open Meetings Act, subjecting the board members to civil
and criminal penalties.

He also claimed that the Georgia Constitution and the DeKalb County
Organizational Act prohibited them from having that power to increase their
salaries.

Dr. Williams, alleged despite the commissioners having knowledge that there
would be a vote to increase their pay, the item did not appear on the board’s
pre-published agenda for the Feb. 27 meeting. At the meeting, the board then
voted 6-1 to pass the increase, raising commissioners’ salaries from $40,530.55
to $65,000.

The DeKalb Superior Court judge Adams dismissed the case with prejudice
and Dr. Williams appealed the case directly to the Georgia Supreme Court.

In the 7-1 decision, the Supreme Court found that “the trial court erred in
dismissing Williams’ claim for civil penalties against the commissioners
individually for violating the Open Meetings Act,” and it reversed that portion
of the trial court’s order.

In the majority opinion, the high court vacated the portion of the trial court’s
order dismissing Williams’ claim for injunctive relief against Thurmond, the
Supreme Court of Georgia also stated, “We reverse that portion of the court’s
order dismissing Williams’ claim against the commissioners for civil penalties
under the Open Meetings Act, and we remand the case to the trial court.”

The Court also stated, “[W]e conclude that Williams had standing to request
that a civil penalty be imposed against the commissioners under [Georgia Code]
§ 50-14-6 and to receive any penalty paid,” the opinion says. Therefore, “the
trial court erred in dismissing Williams’ claim for civil penalties against the
commissioners individually for violating the Open Meetings Act,”
“We conclude that Williams’ complaint sufficiently alleges that the
commissioners acted with actual malice in intentionally violating the agenda
requirements of the Act – a criminal act…”

The commissioners should do the right thing and pay back the people’s money

The DeKalb Pay Raise case was dismissed for a second time from DeKalb
Superior Court on almost the same defenses even after the Supreme Court
remanded the case. This was an attempt by DeKalb Superior Court to nullify
the decision of the Georgia Supreme Court and deny Dr. Williams justice in his
civil lawsuit against DeKalb governing authority.
Hearings on the Pending Motions heard April 14, 2021 by Judge Alford Dempsey.

The case was dismissed a second time. This time by Superior Court Senior Judge
Alford Dempsey who is Fulton County Judge heard the case for Judge Shondeana
Morris DeKalb Superior Court division 4 dismissed Complaint with prejudice May
20, 2021. Williams alleged that several legal errors were made by the court. The
appellate courts exist to correct errors made by lower courts such as DeKalb Superior
Court Judges. Many courts and attorneys lack experience in litigating cases
regarding taxpayer standing with unconstitutional claims and injunctive relief and
Open Meetings Act violations.

DeKalb Pay Raise case will be argued before the Georgia Court of Appeals The
UGA Appellate Clinic represented and argued the case
The question before the court was whether Williams has to standing to make a
constitutional challenge without a declaratory judgment to stop the pay raise
against the CEO Michael Thurmond.

The County argued that WIlliams was not injured or harmed and that official
and statutory immunity protects commissioners from the Open Meeting Act
violations. The County also argued that its acts are assumed to be lawful and
therefore not illegal.

Williams argued that he has citizen-taxpayer standing and does not need to
show harm or personalized injury, where public funds or performance of a duty
is without authority and is unlawful. The County believes that because
Williams only is seeking an injunction and does not have a declaratory
judgment claim that he cannot make an unlawful or unconstitutional
challenge. Williams argued that the court has inherent authority under the
review clause of the constitution to determine whether acts are in violation of
constitutional provision or statutes where there is a question of law and does
not require a declaratory judgment because he is not seeking a declaration of
his rights that affect his future conduct.

In regards to the Open Meetings Act violations, Official and statutory immunity
does not protect public officials from injunction relief to stop future acts
that are a continuation of past acts that are unlawful or unconstitutional. The
County is wrong because for several reasons. Official immunity applies to those
claims where damages are being sought for acts that have already been
completed and were discretionary acts that are part of the public official
duty An authorized civil penalties, court costs, and legal fees are not claims for
damages and compliance with the Open Meetings Act is not discretionary for
public officials and agencies. Many of these issues were reviewed by the
Georgia Supreme Court of the first appeal, however, A DeKalb Superior Court
judge dismissed the case for a second time, thus this second appeal to Georgia
Court of Appeals

On June 30, 2022 Georgia Court ruled on the case Williams v DeKalb County
A22A0508

Case Appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court (2nd time)

60 percent pay increase unconstitutional
DeKalb Superior Court June 17, 2021
Williams v. DeKalb County et al., 18CV8645
Get Notice of Appeal Document
Senior Judge Alford Dempsey Presiding

Williams v. DeKalb County case was docketed in the Georgia Court of Appeals on
October 25, 2021, A previous case was docketed in the Supreme Court on May 1,
2019. An unconstitutional compensation ordinance to increase the DeKalb County
governing authority members' salary by 60% and Open Meeting Act violation will
be heard for a second time.
The case was docketed A22A0508
https://www.gaappeals.us/docket/results_one_record.php?docr_case_num=A2
2A0508
Arguments set for February 8, 2022, 1:30pm Georgia Court of Appeals
https://www.gaappeals.us/calendar/cal_full_day.php?date=2022-02-08&div=1

Edward Williams v. DeKalb County, et al. argued before Court of Appeals of

Georgia on Tuesday, February 8, 2022.
https://youtu.be/54M6JsSUec8
A politically sensitive lawsuit against DeKalb Commissioners moving slowly
Williams v. DeKalb County WSBTV Aug 19 2020

Judge recuses himself from DeKalb commission pay raise lawsuit AJC July 2,
2020

Atlanta seeks to gut provisions of Georgia Open Records Act

UGA First Amendment Clinic The Georgia Supreme Court in Williams v. DeKalb
County, 308 Ga 265, 840 S.E.2d 423, 433 (Ga. 2020), recognized for the first time
that a private citizen has the right to seek civil penalties and collect them

--
Ed Williams. Ed.D. Chair
Concerned Citizens for Effective Government
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ccegov/
ccegov.blogspot.com

(678) 304-7736
email: truthcrushtheearth@gmail.com
Twitter @truthcrushthee2