KWTX
By Tommy Witherspoon
Published: Dec. 28, 2023 at 5:14 PM CST

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - A federal appeals court has reinstated a portion of a whistleblower lawsuit filed by the former chief of the defunct Lott Police Department, ruling a federal judge in Waco abused his discretion by tossing out the lawsuit and retaining jurisdiction over state claims.

A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated an order by U.S. District Judge Alan Albright, of Waco, and ordered him to send Michael R. Hamilton’s state whistleblower claim to the state district court in which it was filed in November 2022.

Hamilton’s lawsuit, initially filed in Waco’s 170th State District Court, alleged Lott City Council members disbanded the police department and eliminated his job after he alleged wrongdoing by the mayor. The lawsuit alleged whistleblower and First Amendment violations.

Roy Barrett and Joe Rivera, attorneys for the city of Lott, had the lawsuit removed from state district court and transferred to federal court, where U.S. Magistrate Jeffrey C. Manske recommended that Albright grant the city’s motion to dismiss both claims.

Albright adopted Manske’s recommendations, which included denying a request to transfer the state whistleblower claim back to state court.

On appeal, Hamilton’s attorney, David Schleicher, did not challenge Albright’s dismissal of Hamilton’s First Amendment retaliation claim. However, he argued that Albright abused his discretion by retaining jurisdiction over the whistleblower claim and failing to remand the state law issue because the case was still in its infancy and involved a complex issue of law.

The 5th Circuit panel agreed, ordering Albright to send the state whistleblower claim back to 170th State District Court.

“When, as here, a consideration of the statutory and common law factors favor remand and there is little in the record that supports the district court’s decision to retain supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claim, we conclude that the district court abused its discretion,” according to the 5th Circuit panel opinion.

Schleicher said he and Hamilton “are grateful the federal appeals court revived the case.”

“I look forward to working with the state court and the attorneys for the city of Lott in attempting to resolve the matter,” Schleicher said.

Barrett said the 5th Circuit didn’t rule against the city on the merits of the case, only which court should hear it.

“We believe Judge Albright made the right decision,” Barrett said. “The 5th Circuit ruling in no way decides the merits of Mr. Hamilton’s whistleblower claim, but only decided that claim should be heard in state court. The city will have all its defenses to that claim in state court that caused the federal judge to dismiss the whistleblower claim on the basis it had no merit.”

Lott is southwest of Marlin in Falls County and has a population of about 750. Schleicher said whistleblower lawsuits can be filed in an adjoining county if the city is included in an area covered by a council of governments, such as the Heart of Texas Council of Governments. Hamilton, who is working now as a Central Texas police officer, was seeking up to $250,000 in damages and reinstatement as chief in his initial lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, Hamilton, who had served as Lott police chief since January 2009, sent a letter to Falls County District Attorney Jody Gilliam on July 11, 2022, that outlined what he believed to be allegations of wrongdoing by Lott Mayor Sue Tacker. He also provided copies of the letter to the council, the lawsuit states.

That same night at a Lott City Council meeting, Tacker called Hamilton a “tattletale” and the council voted to “entirely defund the police department,” the lawsuit alleges.

“Mayor Tacker and the council then attempted to make the retaliation less obvious, delaying the matter until a second vote to eliminate the police department, at an Aug. 22, 2022, meeting,” according to the lawsuit. “They gave Chief Hamilton until noon the next day to turn over his keys and equipment. The mayor’s level of spite was such that she could not wait that long, going directly from that evening’s meeting to put a padlock on the door of the chief’s office.”

The Lott City Council voted 3-1 to disband the police department in August 2022 because of budget shortfalls.

“Our budget has been going down for about the last three years, and we just have to get it in hand,” Tacker told KWTX at the Aug. 22, 2022, meeting. “It’s either that or we’re going to go broke and we won’t have a town, or a city council.”

The lawsuit, however, alleges that the city spent money “with abandon” in other budget areas and the council did not require other departments to turn a profit like they expected Hamilton to do.

Hamilton alleges in the lawsuit he was retaliated against for speaking out and his job was eliminated in violation of the Texas Whistleblower Act.

Hamilton alleged in his letter to the DA that Tacker and other council members violated Texas open meetings laws and circumvented open-session and agenda-posting requirements for council meetings. He also alleges the mayor misused her position to try to get a speeding ticket dismissed for an out-of-town motorist.

Tacker also treated Hamilton, who is Black, more strictly than city employees who are not, also in violation of Texas law, the lawsuit alleges.

“While Mayor Sue Tacker may never have been a big fan of Chief Hamilton’s, it was his July 11, 2022, report to the district attorney of what he believed to be her illegal conduct that was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” the lawsuit alleges. “That is, it was the ‘but for’ cause of his termination.”

A presentation to the Lott City Council in 2022 showed the police department generated $24,061 in revenues in 2021, while its expenses were $425,771. It was projected the police department would lose another $256,222 in 2022. By eliminating the police department, it was estimated the city would get out of the red and begin making a profit in coming years.