Battle for SCLC control continues as disqualification of lawyer sought

By Mashaun D. Simon

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The battle for control of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference took another turn Friday when one group asked a judge to disqualify  a  lawyer representing the other faction in the case.

Thelma Wyatt Moore, the attorney representing the faction that backs the chairmanship of Rev. Raleigh Trammell, filed a motion in Fulton County Superior Court against attorney Charles Mathis Jr., who represents the group that has sought to oust Trammell.

Moore alleges that Mathis has shouldn't be allowed to represent the SCLC because he also has served as an attorney for Rev. Bernice King, president-elect of the civil rights organization co-founded by her father, Martin Luther King Jr.  The petition claims that Mathis also serves as the attorney for another SCLC board member.

“It is a conflict of interest,” Moore said in a press conference outside the Fulton courthouse. “You cannot represent members of an entity and that entity at the same time.”

Moore, a former Fulton County court judge, said she expects Mathis to remove himself or be removed by Judge Alford Dempsey.

Mathis told the AJC the claims are groundless. Mathis represented Bernice King and her brother, Martin Luther King III, in a recent case against their brother Dexter King for control of their father's estate. A settlement in that case was approved by a judge last month.

“[They] have taken the position that I have a conflict due to my involvement in representing the Kings in a previous case,” Mathis told the AJC. “That action is no longer pending and I have no conflict of interest.”

Founded in 1957 and closely associated with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the SCLC has been in a battle that pits two groups of board members against each other.

The dueling boards came about when a group voted in December to oust Trammell as chairman and Spiver Gordon, of Eutaw, Ala., as treasurer because of claims the two had diverted SCLC funds for their own purposes. A separate law enforcement investigation of those allegations is ongoing.

In January, Trammell’s supporters tried to reconstitute the board by removing some members and adding 14 others.

--AJC staff writers Christian Boone and Rhonda Cook contributed to this report.