Snellville’s mayor and city council are battling again in court, but this time it’s over the legal fees incurred by the lawsuit the two sides settled earlier this summer.
Mayor Kelly Kautz sued the five council members, city manager, and city clerk over issues involving her access to city hall, use of her signature on financial transactions, and the terms and appointments of the city manager and clerk.
After a two week trial, both sides settled with determination of legal fees to be made by the court at a later time.
While Kautz says the council has used city funds to pay the legal fees of its attorneys, she says no money has been authorized to pay the fees of her three attorneys.
City attorney Tony Powell, who represented the city of Snellville during the suit, says Kautz is not entitled to legal fees because she did not prevail in the lawsuit.
Her lead counsel Phyllis Miller disagrees.
“There was an agreement there would be no admission of liability; that did not, by any means, waive the right to seek the mayor’s attorneys’ fees being paid… as a matter of fact we reserved that right,” she argued.
Miller says her client’s legal fees totaled around $230,000 but says no one expects to be paid the full amount.
“We are not asking for all of that, we expect everything to be cut,” she told Gwinnett Superior Court Judge Warren Davis.
The judge indicated that, if he did rule in favor of Kautz, he would not authorize the full amount saying attorneys who represent local governments are typically not paid the same as those who represent traditional clients.
He plans to take the testimony under advisement and issue a ruling at a later date.
