By Betsy Finklea
A motion by the attorneys for County Administrator Rodney Berry to disqualify Attorney Charles Curry as the counsel for the plaintiff, Treasurer Jamie Estes, was denied on Thursday at a court hearing held in Florence.
Will Jordan, one of the attorneys for Berry, said that the motion was made in accordnane with Rule 3.7 of the Rules of Professional Conduct and Rule 1.9. He said that they considered Curry a material witness and that the rules prohibited counsel from representing a client against a former client.
Jordan said they discovered in the September 1, 1995 council notes that Curry was the attorney for county council at the time and gave advice as to how the matter should be handled. He said they now felt it neceesary to depose hime.
Judge Michael Nettles said it was not the process of how it was adopted that was at issue. but rather what impact a past council can have on a future council and can the current council undo what was previously done.
Curry said he was there when it was discussed and said he advised them to use the wordage that other councils in the state had used since it had to be approved by the Justice Department. He said it was 22 years ago and at this point, he didn’t think that he could add or take away anything from the original meeting notes. Curry said he has no ongoing work with the county. Curry said he did not think that anything he had to say would have much effect at all on the judge. With the hearing coming up on September 14th-15th, Curry said it would be a hardship on the Treasurer to try to secure other counsel now.
After hearing from the Dillon County Board of Education’s attorney, Paul Porter, and NETC’s attorney, Charles Boykin, the judge ruled.
Judge Nettles asked that an order be drawn up that stated that the matters raised would go uncontested and were irrelevant and that there would be a hardship on the treasurer to replace her counsel at this point. He also stated Curry could not be called as a witness.