On Monday, Montgomery attorney Julian McPhillips filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama on behalf of Selma City Treasurer Ronita Wade, claiming that her First Amendment rights were violated by Selma Mayor Darrio Melton and the City of Selma.

According to McPhilllips, the judge overseeing Wade’s state case delayed a hearing on amendments until October – because the statute of limitations runs out on the First Amendment claims at the end of the month, McPhillips filed Monday’s complaint in an effort to have the issue taken up before then.

McPhillips noted that, once the case is heard, the claims can be added to the state case and possibly amended.

“It’s a suit that will allow us to pursue damages for the violation of her freedom of speech rights and her freedom of association rights,” McPhillips said. “This gives her the right to seek damages beyond just the lost income.”

McPhillips noted that while Wade has had her position as treasurer reinstated and received some form of compensation for lost wages, she has not yet received any compensation for the damages incurred as a result of the multi-year debacle.

“Although they were careful to make sure her pay was caught up at different times when she was fired and put back in office, she’s had damages beyond that,” McPhillips said. “She has had a hellish time.”

In the eight-page filing, McPhillips lays out the timeline of transgressions against Wade, which he said were fomented by Melton.

What we’re saying is that [Melton’s] actions against her derive from what he sought to do before he was even elected,” McPhillips said. “This is an action brought against Darrio Melton primarily.”

According to the filing, Wade’s troubles with Melton began in July 2016 – Melton was running for mayor and approached Wade with “numerous questions” regarding the city’s finances, including specific questions related to the city’s budget, revenue and expenses.

McPhillips asserted that Melton did so in an effort to bolster his political campaign, but Wade refused to provide the requested information, stating that “she did not believe it proper to discuss the city’s finances with any mayoral candidates” and that such information would only become available to him if he won the election.

The filing also states that Wade avoided showing favoritism to one candidate or another in discussions with Melton but her avoidance “likely informed [Melton] that he was not [Wade’s] favorite.”

After winning the race, the complaint claims that Melton “advised one or more individuals that his first order of business was to remove [Wade] from her position” as treasurer.

Additionally, the complaint claims, Melton took “a number of immediate and continuing actions against [Wade], severely limiting her abilities to perform her many duties and responsibilities” as treasurer, including removing her from “necessary communications and meetings” with city officials, prohibiting her from working in her office after 4:30 p.m., meeting with members of her staff without her knowledge or presence, removing office equipment and more.

In September 2017, the rash of dismissals and reinstatements began – Wade was placed on “involuntary administrative leave” on Sept. 19, 2017 and terminated one week later, only to be reinstated by the council on Oct. 10; 2017; Melton “ignored the vote” of the council and placed Wade on “administrative leave with pay” and she was again terminated on Dec. 22, 2017, only to be reinstated again on Feb. 13, 2018.

The complaint states that Wade “attempted to perform the duties of her office” from February 2018 until September 2018 only to be placed on paid administrative leave again Sept. 26, 2018, the day the council was set to pass that year’s budget – at that time, Melton claimed that Wade was “under investigation.”

Following that dismissal, the council declined to reinstate her again, citing the “recurring nature” of the dismissals, and assigned the matter to an insurance attorney – by Nov. 20, 2018, Wade filed suit in Dallas County Circuit Court and on May 6, 2019 a preliminary judgment found that Wade should be returned to the “full performance of her duties as treasurer…”

The final judgment in that case was handed down July 16, 2019 and Wade has been at her post ever since.

The most recent complaint claims that, per the facts provided, Wade has had her First Amendment rights violated on multiple fronts – first, her freedom of speech rights were violated when she was retaliated against for refusing to provide financial information to then-candidate Melton; second, her freedom of political association rights were violated when adverse action was taken against her in response to Melton’s perception that she must favor one of his political opponents.

In both instances, McPhillips is seeking compensatory damages, injunctive and equitable relief, an award of all court costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees and any additional relief the court deems appropriate.