Lake City Residents v Lake City, South Carolina
Lake City Residents File Lawsuit against City
Four Lake City residents have filed a class-action lawsuit against the city of Lake City that would force the city to put Sondra Fleming-Crosby and Lovith Anderson Jr. on council.
Fleming-Crosby and Anderson, candidates for Lake City City Council Seats 2 and 4, respectively, in the November election, and Holly Young and Martin Cooper filed the lawsuit July 8, 2005. The two challengers would have won their seats by 37 votes each if the election results had been certified.
Lake City's three-member election commission voided the November results, causing the two challengers to file a lawsuit against the commission when it refused to certify the election results.
Commission members said voiding the election was their only option after provisional ballots were mixed with regular ballots at the polls.
The latest lawsuit alleges that when council entered into executive session during its April 12 meeting to discuss the election, it was in violation of the S.C. Freedom of Information Act because council failed to properly announce the specific purpose for the executive session as required by state law. It also contends that the executive session was attended by people who are not permitted by law to do so.
According to the lawsuit, council's action to appeal the judge's order was in violation of the S.C. State Ethics Act, S.C. Municipal Election Law, S.C. Municipal Home Rule Act, Article 1 of the State Constitution, the First and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, and Article 4 of the U.S. Constitution.
The suit asks for an injunction against the defendants that will stop them from participating in further decisions by council in which they have a conflict of interest.
