The front of the federal courthouse in Montgomery, Alabama. A dispute between a state senator and the state’s alcohol control board could delay contracts for attorneys representing the state in several key battles. (Ralph Chapoco/Alabama Reflector)
A state senator’s decision to delay approval of contracts for state agencies could slow the state’s ability to approve legal contracts for lawsuits alleging voting or civil rights abuses.
Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, told representatives of state agencies at a Contract Review Committee meeting that he would withhold contracts until the ABC Board establishes rules to allow employees of restaurants and hotels with restaurants to take exams allowing them to serve alcohol.
A spokesperson for the ABC Board said Thursday they plan to approve the rules at their Nov. 14 meeting.
The delayed contracts include a $200,000 contract with a Montgomery law firm to defend the state in a lawsuit over state Senate district lines and millions of dollars in contracts for cases involving the Alabama Department of Corrections.
The $200,000 contract in the redistricting case is with Balch & Bingham, LLP, a law firm based in Montgomery meant to provide “expert legal assistance by assisting the AG’s Office” in the redistricting case, Khadidah Stone v. Wes Allen.
“If I could just tell the committee, this trial date is next week,” said Clay Crenshaw, the chief deputy attorney general, on Thursday. “We need it. We need our lawyer.”
The lawsuit alleges that redistricting in 2021 led to Black Alabamians being denied a right to elect candidates of their choice in Montgomery and Huntsville.
The Corrections contracts include an amendment to a contract with Huntsville attorney Bill Lundsford over a lawsuit over unsafe conditions at St. Clair Correctional Facility in Springville, known as Duke v. Dunn. The suit alleges that mismanagement, poor leadership and inadequate security in the prison have led to stabbings and homicides. The department is seeking to increase the contract with Lundsford from $8.6 million to $12.6 million.
Lundsford has received several contracts from the state for the past several years. He was also part of a controversial award to YesCare, a Tennessee-based health care firm that won a $1 billion health care contract for Alabama prisons. DOC officials told members of the Contract Review Committee last year that Lundsford served on the board during the first round of bidding on the contract, but stepped down before a second round began. YesCare also provides health care services to Maryland prisons and the Baltimore jail, according to the Baltimore Banner.
Other contracts pertain to compliance with court orders stemming from the Braggs case, in which a federal court ruled that Corrections failed to provide adequate health and medical care to people incarcerated within Alabama’s prisons.
The first is Dr. Donald Raymond Reeves, Hydrangea Hill Psychiatric Associates, Inc. based in South Orange, New Jersey for $280,000 at $500 per hour “for services rendered as part of the external monitoring team in the Braggs case.”
Corrections awarded a similar contract to Rick Raemisch of Falcon Correctional and Community Services, based in Chicago, also for $280,000 at $350 per hour.
The remaining contracts are for legal services to defend correctional staff working within ADOC facilities. The contracts are all $200,000 billed at $195 per hour with the state funding the entire amount.
A contract was given to Robbie Hyde of Alexander Hyde in Auburn to defend the state in William R. Smith v. Jefferson Dunn alleges that correctional officers beat a person to death at Ventress Correctional Facility in Clayton.
The fourth contract was given to Steve Herndonv of Herndon Law, PC based out of Montgomery, involving an alleged sexual assault at Ventress Correctional Facility.
The final contract is awarded to W. Allen Sheehan of -Capell & Howard based in Montgomery to defend DOC in a lawsuit alleging sexual assault and murder at St. Clair Correctional Facility.
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