Ruling could cost DeKalb schools millions more in legal fees

DeKalb County taxpayers likely will have to pay millions of dollars more in legal fees in the school district's civil suit against a construction manager, which could include funding representation for ex-superintendent Crawford Lewis, because of a federal court ruling.

This is the latest setback for the DeKalb County School System in its $100 million civil suit against its former construction manager Heery/Mitchell.

On Tuesday, a federal judge granted the company’s request to send the case back to DeKalb County Superior Court, where it originated. In November, the school system had the case moved to federal court in an effort to circumvent DeKalb Superior Court Judge Clarence Seeliger's decision to enable Heery/Mitchell to sue 17 individuals, in addition to the school system.

As it stands, the district will have to pay for its own legal bills and provide lawyers for those 17 individuals, including Lewis, former chief operating officer Patricia Reid and members of the 2006 school board.

The school system already has spent more than $15.5 million in trial preparation for the suit. The judge's decision could cost several more million dollars, board chairman Tom Bowen said.

“This is truly a case of justice delayed being justice denied for the taxpayers of DeKalb,” Bowen said Wednesday. “Adding the additional parties to the suit will further increase the legal fees the district incurs as we continue to wait for our day in court.”

U.S. District Court Judge Richard W. Story didn’t agree with that argument. On Tuesday, he issued an order telling DeKalb it couldn't move the case to another court just to avoid another court’s ruling.

“It in effect is attempting in this court to have a second bite at the apple,” Story wrote.

Heery/Mitchell was responsible for managing the district’s SPLOST program to build new schools. In 2006, the district terminated its contract with the company,  and a year later, the company filed suit, alleging the school district breached the contract. The school system countersued, claiming the company mismanaged more than $100 million in sales tax funds and defrauded the district.

Heery alleges DeKalb terminated its contract in order to assist Lewis and Reid’s alleged criminal enterprise. Last year, a DeKalb grand jury indicted Lewis, Reid, Reid's ex-husband, an architect and Reid's secretary on charges of running a criminal enterprise with the schools' construction program. Reid took over the construction program after Heery/Mitchell was terminated.

“The civil and criminal cases are intertwined; they deal with the same allegations, the same schools and the same people,” said Mark Grantham, Heery’s lawyer. “We allege there was a coverup by the school district.”

Reached Wednesday, Lewis’ lawyer, Mike Brown, said he was still evaluating the situation and determining how to move forward.