Motion to Sever

    IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF ALABAMA 

NORTHERN DIVISION 

JOHN DILLARD, et al., * 

PLAINTIFFS * 

VS: * C.A.# 85-T-1332-N 

CRENSHAW COUNTY, ALABAMA, * 
et al,., 

* 

DEFENDANTS 

  

Come now the Defendants Etowah County, Alabama; Lee Wofford, 

in his official capacity as Probate Judge; Billy Yates, in his 

official capacity as Circuit Clerk; and Roy McDowell, in his 

official capacity as Sheriff of Etowah County; and move the 

Court for an Order Severing the claim and lawsuit against the 

above named parties from this cause and in support show as 

follows: 

l. The Court has never entered an Order consolidating these 

causes. 

2, The joinder of this Etowah claim with other claims 

against other counties as a part of a class action is not 

appropriate, 

3. The joinder of this lawsuit against Etowah County and 

its officials with the seven other lawsuits against seven other 

counties is not appropriate for the following reasons: 

 



  

a. There are eight different and distinct liability 

issues. 

b. Each of the eight cases are diverse. 

c. There is no basic commonalty because of remedy in the 

eight cases. 

d. The officials in the different counties are elected by 

diverse and different election laws. 

e. Each County named has different numbers of 

commissioners, elected in different manners, with different 

responsibilities. 

f. The terms of the commissioners in various counties are 

different. 

gd. The counties named as defendants have different black 

white population ratios. (In the case of Etowah, 13.8 per cent 

black). 

4. The factual situation with regards to each individual 

cause and county is different and the consolidation of then, 

creating an illusion of similarility, work to the prejudice of 

these Defendants. 

5. That if this cause is allowed to proceed as a 

consolidated cause, then the Court would be required to conduct 

eight separate and distinct trials on eight detailed separate 

constitutional issues. Etowah County and its elected officials 

should not be required or placed in a position of having to sit 

in court while seven other separate and distinct claims and 

lawsuits are tried. 

 



  

6. Each county, each lawsuit, has different questions of 

fact and law. There are no common questions of law and Fact, 

and as such, said action is not suitable for a joint action of 

as a class action. 

7. In this litigation there are eight separate lawsuits 

that must be looked at on a separate factual basis. 

8. Etowah County is in the United States District Court for 

the Northern District of Alabama. The forum in the United 

States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama is 

inconvenient for Etowah County to defend an action against it. 

Difficulty of transporting parties, witnesses, and attorneys out 

of its own district to another to prepare, present and complete 

a trial mandates that this action be severed from the other 

seven lawsuits and be transferred to the United States District 

Court for the Northern District of Alabama. 

FLOYD, KEENER & CUSIMANO 

ATTORNEYS FOR DEFENDANTS 

Etowah County, Alabama; 
Lee Wofford; Billy Yates 
and Roy McDowell 

JACK FLOYD 
816 Chestnut Street 
Gadsden, AL 35999-2701 
(205) 547-6328 

  

I hereby certify that a copy of the foregoing has been 
mailed to Larry. T. Menefee, Attorney, P. O. Box 1051, Mobile, 
Alabama 36633; Terry G. Davis, P. O. Box 6215, Montgomery, 
Alabama 36104; Deborah Fins, Julius L. Chambers, 99 Hudson 
Street, 16th Floor, New York, New York 10013; Edward Still, 714; 
South 29th Street, Birmingham, AL 35233; and Reo Kirkland, Jr., 

 



  

P. O. Box 646, Brewton, AL 36427, Alton Turner, Crenshaw County 
Attorney, P. O. Box 207, Luverne, AL 36049, Dave Martin, 
Lawrence County Attorney, 215 S. Main Street, Moutlon, AL 35650, 
Warner Rowe, Coffee County Attorney, 119 East College Avenue, 
Enterprise, AL 36330, H. R. Burnham, Calhoun County Attorney, P. 
O. Box 1618, Anniston, AL 36202, Barry D. Vaughn, Talladega 
County Attorney, 121 N. Norton Avenue, Sylacauga, AL 35150, Lee 
Otts, Escambia County Attorney, P. O. Box 467, Brewton, AL 
36427, Buddy Kirk, Pickens ty Soma, P. O. Drawer AB, 
Carrollton, AL 35447, this the _\day of January, 1986. 

LO UA 
TS — 

  

OF COUNSEL