A former DeKalb Superior Court clerk, who resigned last month supposedly over health issues, is suing the county and seeking job reinstatement so she can finish out her term, her attorney said.
The clerk, Linda Carter, didn’t actually resign and shouldn't have been relieved of her position, attorney Lee Parks said Wednesday. Parks earlier told the Fulton County Daily Report his client was “struggling with the onset of Alzheimer's” and was misled when she signed what turned out to be a resignation letter.
One of the issues of the reinstatement is the status of Carter’s ability to retire, with disability, and become vested in the county pension plan. Parks said his client is two years from being vested, which would be the end of her term.
Last month The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Carter resigned for health reasons, and that then-Deputy Clerk Debra DeBerry was sworn in to complete Carter’s term, which ends December 2012.
Parks said things are not what they seem where the resignation is concerned.
“It will all be detailed in the suit,” he said.
Parks expects the suit, seeking reinstatement and damages, to be filed Thursday in DeKalb Superior Court.
DeKalb County officials declined to comment, spokesman Burke Brennan said.
Carter was elected in 2000, unseating incumbent Jeanette Rozier in a runoff. In 2004, Carter soundly defeated five candidates, including Rozier. She was elected to her third term in 2008.
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