The mayor met with JRA board members last week and conveyed that he wants them to work with the city’s Economic Development Department on plans that would require city-backed bonds or tax incentives. Chris Mims, Johnson’s director of communications, said the meeting was a result of a large number of developers going to the JRA in recent months requesting various public incentives.

Traditionally, the JRA uses public-private partnerships to help fund projects, but with private lending institutions limiting the funds they are willing to lend in today’s economic climate, more developers are approaching the JRA for city-backed funding incentives.

“We do have a limited bonding capacity,” Mims said. “We need to be smart about what developments we can potentially go forward with.”

That means the Economic Development Department needs to be involved earlier in the process of evaluating the feasibility of funding projects, Mims said.

The city already has about $75 million in outstanding issued debt and has about $100 million left that can be issued, JRA board member John Reeves said.

“If we approved the hotel project over here at the Convention Center, and it was all public debt, that would just about wipe out the city’s ability to issue bonds,” Reeves said.

According to state code 43-35-31, which lays out the powers of a municipality’s urban renewal agency, the JRA does not have the power to approve urban-renewal plans or modifications or the power to issue general-obligation bonds.

Because the decision to issue bonds or tax incentives ultimately lies with the mayor and City Council anyway, the mayor is just asking that they be more involved in the process from the start, Reeves said.

“We can like ‘project X’ all day long and the City Council can say, ‘Nope, we’re not going to do it,’ or (the mayor) can so no. He can veto it. So in the final analysis, you need them on board anyway,” Reeves said.

JRA attorney Zach Taylor said he doesn’t believe the board has done anything illegal in their previous actions and Johnson is not claiming they have.

It was unclear to JRA board members and Mims from the meeting if Johnson is planning to implement a new official policy or ordinance to get the Economic Development Department more involved.

JRA chairman Ronnie C. Crudup said that the JRA should continue working on its long-term goals and planning until the city presents them with a proposed policy change, because they do not know when that policy change might come.

“That could be next month; it could be the end of the year; it could be next year,” Crudup said.

by Jacob Fuller | Jackson Free Press

The Jackson Redevelopment Authority didn’t act Wednesday on a proposal to issue $11 million in development bonds.

JRA executive director Jason Brookins said he was concerned that hotel owners Mike and Steve Roberts couldn’t offer personal guarantees to cover their obligations in a proposed bond issue that would provide $8.5 million toward paying off Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds previously issued as well as $2.5 million to resume renovations to the 84-year-old hotel.

He said the GoZone bonds are in default. But he stopped short of saying some type of partnership to revive the hotel is dead.

“We want to do what’s in the best interest of the city,” Brookins said. “If a (workable) deal comes back to the board, we’ll consider it.”

The former Edison Walthall has largely been shut down since November 2010 because of water-pressure damage to most of the 206 guest rooms.

The Roberts brothers, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the hotel in December.

The brothers, who live in St. Louis and bought the Walthall in 2008, have proposed JRA have first lien on the property should the deal fail. They reached out to the redevelopment authority after talks with the city of Jackson for a $15 million loan fell through.

In their request to the agency earlier this year, they said the repairs could be finished in four to six months, and the hotel could reopen as early as November if a deal could be struck with JRA.

But the bankruptcy filing and the lack of a deal put the hotel’s future into question.

Alan Smith, an attorney for bondholders in the development, indicated to JRA members that foreclosure at some point is a possibility but wouldn’t elaborate on that prospect after the meeting.

In an email, John D. Moore, an attorney for the Roberts brothers, says foreclosure couldn’t happen until at least July. But he hopes something can be worked out to prevent that.

“We intend to continue to pursue other avenues of financing on either a take-out or capital improvement basis,” Moore said.

A hearing on the matter has been scheduled for June 21.

The initial court filing from Roberts Hotels Jackson LLC in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of Mississippi doesn’t specify the amount of assets or liability the company has, noting only it’s between $1 million and $10 million in each instance. The filing lists between 50 and 100 creditors.

Despite such troubles, JRA board member John Reeves said the agency shouldn’t yet walk away from trying to work some type of deal to revive the hotel, explaining the facility is too important for a downtown area needing more hotel rooms.

“I’m not hung up on personal guarantees if it’s a worthy project,” he said. “We don’t want to let it sit there and become blight.”

Moore says the Roberts brothers’ proposal can have more immediate impact and cost less than the city trying to find a developer to build a new hotel, noting years of failure to build a hotel across from the Jackson Convention Complex.

JRA general counsel Zach Taylor said personal guarantees from developers aren’t required but often become factors in individual negotiations.

Brookins said the agency’s projects committee, which reviewed the proposal, typically looks for guarantees from developers to cover their obligations.

The Walthall’s woes are the latest setback to the Roberts’ brothers various business interests.

Roberts Broadcasting Co., which owns WRBJ-TV in Jackson and TV stations in Missouri, Indiana and South Carolina, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year, citing more than $4 million in debt.

A judge ruled in December that creditors in that case can sue other Roberts-owned businesses not part of that filing to recover money creditors claim was transferred to other ventures from the TV stations.

Attorneys for the brothers have said they are putting together a plan to pay all creditors over the next four years.

Brookins said those troubles didn’t play a role in his personal-guarantee concerns.

Written by Jeff Ayres – Clarion Ledger

All four Hinds County Circuit Court judges have stepped aside from hearing the case, with only one, Judge Jeff Weill Sr., giving a reason.

That leaves the case in the hands of the Mississippi Supreme Court, which could appoint a sitting judge from another district or a retired judge to hear the case.

Jackson filed her complaint March 2, three days after LaRita Cooper-Stokes bested her by 156 votes in a runoff for the vacant seat formerly held for years by Cooper-Stokes’ husband, Kenneth Stokes, now a Hinds County supervisor.

Jackson contends poll workers at several precincts assisted voters illegally and in some cases coached them to vote for Cooper-Stokes. She says election officials also allowed Cooper-Stokes’ supporters to campaign within 150 feet of the building in violation of election laws.

Cooper-Stokes responded to the complaint by asking the court to dismiss it with prejudice, meaning Jackson wouldn’t be able to bring it up again. Cooper-Stokes was sworn in March 2.

Subsequently, the four judges one by one filed orders to recuse themselves.

Weill, a former city councilman, wrote that he has a busy docket and suggested another courtroom would be a better fit, given the time-sensitive nature of the case.

Judge William Gowan’s order indicated he could have a conflict of interest, but he did not elaborate.

Gowan and fellow Judges Tomie Green and Winston Kidd did not return calls this week seeking comment.

Beverly Kraft, a court system spokeswoman, said the Supreme Court received the recusals on Friday. She could not predict how long it would take to appoint a replacement judge but added, “They usually move pretty quickly on that.”

Jackson’s attorney, John Reeves, said he expects a judge to be appointed within a matter of days.

When the Supreme Court appoints a senior status judge (retired) as a special judge to hear a case in which local judges have recused themselves, the senior status judge is paid from the state trial judges’ budget. If the court appoints a sitting judge from another district, that judge receives only travel expenses.

Barring any appeals, “it (the trial) should be over within the next month,” Reeves said. If a judge rules in Jackson’s favor, another election could be held as early as May, leaving the winner with a term of just more than a year.

Citywide elections are in June 2013.

Joyce Jackson, who lost by 156 votes this week in a runoff for the Jackson City Council, on Friday filed a lawsuit contesting the election.

She contends poll workers at several precincts violated election laws by assisting voters and in some cases coaching them to vote for the eventual winner, LaRita Cooper-Stokes. Jackson says election officials also allowed Cooper-Stokes’ supporters to campaign for her within 150 feet of the building, which is illegal.

“We don’t know how this election would have turned out” if the law had been followed, said John Reeves, Jackson’s attorney. “You expect some of these shenanigans from the candidates. You don’t expect it from the poll workers.”

Most of the allegations occurred at Institutional AME Church, where Cooper-Stokes bested Jackson about 3 to 1. The lawsuit says a radio was left on all day at the precinct, allowing voters to hear Cooper-Stokes’ campaign ads while they cast their ballots.

Poll workers also allegedly offered assistance to voters when none was requested. By law, assistance only can be granted to people who are blind, disabled or illiterate, and only if they ask.

If a poll worker offered unsolicited help, “a lot of people, particularly elderly people would not know how to respond to that,” Reeves said. “Some would be intimidated by that. It literally robs the voter of his own free will.”

The lawsuit also says the poll manager there used a racial epithet to describe people with mixed racial heritage, like Jackson.

None of the poll workers is named.

Cooper-Stokes reiterated Friday that she is unaware that anything illegal occurred.

“That is certainly her prerogative as a candidate,” Cooper-Stokes said of the court challenge. “I don’t have any knowledge of anything that she’s alleging, so that’s all I can say about that.”

Reeves said her swearing in will not affect the lawsuit; because she won the election, she is supposed to take office unless a court issued an injunction, which is rare.

Other precincts had similar issues to Institutional AME, the lawsuit says.

At Wells Memorial United Methodist Church, where Cooper-Stokes won 90 percent of the ballots cast, voters allegedly were told to “push here” on a button indicating a vote for Cooper-Stokes. At Faith Presbyterian Church, where votes were split about 60-40, a poll worker allegedly coached people to vote for Cooper-Stokes.

The suit says a Jackson police officer shuttled two or three people to Medgar Evers Municipal Library, another precinct where workers were offering unsolicited help to voters.

Reeves, who has handled numerous election challenges all over the state, said the same issues are prevalent across Mississippi.

“Poll workers are terribly untrained, and apparently underpaid,” Reeves said. “And, just simply unaware of what they’re supposed to be doing to run these elections.”

“You expect some of these shenanigans from the candidates. You don’t expect it from the poll workers.”

Attorney John Reeves

Written by Brian Eason | Clarion Ledger

Hoping to finish what they started

The owners of the struggling Roberts Walthall Hotel are turning to the Jackson Redevelopment Authority for $11 million in 20-year development bonds in hopes of kickstarting the historic but largely dormant property.

The agency didn’t take any action on the matter Wednesday, and it’s not clear when it might bring the proposal up for a vote.

Mike Roberts, who owns the 84-year-old downtown Jackson hotel with his brother, Steve, has written JRA asking for bonds.

According to the letter from Roberts to JRA board member Mat Thomas, who chairs JRA’s projects committee, $8.5 million would pay off previously issued Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds used to upgrade the aging hotel, while the remaining $2.5 million would go toward completing those repairs.

In exchange, JRA would have first lien on the property, formerly known as the Edison Walthall, should the deal fail, the letter states.

The hotel has been largely shut down since November 2010 for repairs, although events and long-term room bookings have been taken during that time.

Roberts says in the letter that water pressure problems caused “multiple water leaks” that damaged guest rooms, the restaurant, the lobby bar and meeting space.

Much of the hotel’s 206 rooms have been affected by the damage, and the ground-floor restaurant and lobby bar remain darkened.

With a hotel serving the Jackson Convention Complex still unrealized, the Walthall can again provide needed hotel rooms downtown if JRA can help it reopen, Thomas says.

“The project would address our (needs) for eating and sleeping downtown,” he said.

Roberts could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

In his letter to Thomas, he says remaining repairs would take four to six months to finish if funds were available to resume the work.

He added the hotel could be open as early as November if JRA decides to enter the deal.

Thomas says he’s awaiting financial information from the Roberts brothers before going further with the request.

Mike Roberts told The Clarion-Ledger last October that he’d spent at least $5.5 million on repairing the leaks. That’s in addition to more than $9 million the brothers spent in renovations, including flat-screen TVs for guest rooms, since buying the hotel in 2008.

The Roberts brothers have been in talks with the city of Jackson about securing a $15 million loan toward restarting the project.

But Mike Roberts said last year that city officials didn’t seem as concerned with his hotel as they were in helping build a hotel across from the convention complex.

City officials denied the claim, noting they had previously forwarded about $200,000 in economic development grants to aid the restoration.

City spokeswoman Quita Bride said Wednesday that the city had asked developers for a formal proposal regarding the $15 million loan but haven’t gotten one.

The financial empire of Mike and Steve Roberts, who are based in St. Louis, Mo., has been rocked recently.

Roberts Broadcasting Co., which owns WRBJ-TV in Jackson and TV stations in Missouri, South Carolina and Indiana, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year, citing more than $4 million in debt.

A judge ruled in December that creditors in that case can sue other Roberts businesses not included in that filing to recover money they say was transferred from the TV stations to other businesses.

Attorneys for the brothers have said they are putting together a plan in which all creditors will be paid over the next four years.

Meanwhile, JRA voted Wednesday to get a new property appraisal on the convention-center hotel land, which remains undeveloped after a preliminary deal between the city and Transcontinental Realty Investors of Dallas fell through.

The agency plans to seek new proposals to build a hotel on the land, although it’s not clear when that will happen. JRA has aimed to have a request for proposals to prospective developers by the end of March.

“When are we going to have a convention-center hotel built … in 2014?” JRA board member John Reeves asked.

Jason Brookins, the agency’s executive director, said he’s waiting for loan repayment information from TCI before moving forward.

Written by Jeff Ayres | Clarion Ledger

Move would benefit developers, board says

The Jackson Redevelopment Authority could soon have a set of guidelines in place concerning proposed development presentations and follow-through.

The standards could be voted on at JRA’s March meeting.

“We needed to have a process where the public can pitch their (project),” said JRA board member John Reeves, who introduced the proposal. “We’re trying to put methodologies in place to ensure everyone’s treated fairly.”

Under the proposal, a developer wanting to sell land to JRA or buy property from the agency would first meet with the group’s executive director to outline the plan.

If a proposal is seen as workable, it would then be reviewed by JRA’s projects committee and, if bonds or loans from the agency are involved, its finance committee.

Each decision rendered by those committees would then go before the full JRA board. If the city of Jackson makes a pitch, officials there would follow the same process as a private developer would, said JRA executive director Jason Brookins.

The idea for a set of standards came after a developer several months ago proposed selling a motel property to JRA for $300,000, Reeves said.

The developer said at the time he had hoped to redevelop the property himself, but he didn’t have the means to do so after a business partner withdrew from the project. JRA ultimately passed on buying the land.

Reeves said it’s fairly rare for a developer to show up at a meeting with such a pitch and wanted to create a way for JRA to work with developers in such instances to potentially do business.

“Anybody can bring (a project),” says Zach Taylor, JRA’s general counsel. “What they need to know is how to start.”

So documentation spelling out the proposed guidelines will be given to developers who meet with Brookins to propose projects, Taylor said.

JRA board member Beneta Burt said she hopes the guidelines will help developers fill in any blanks they might not have considered regarding project details or other information the agency would need when weighing a project.

Written by Jeff Ayres | Clarion Ledger

New guidelines for professional-service firms

After heated debate last month over how professional-service firms are selected for economic development projects, the Jackson Redevelopment Authority will institute a new set of guidelines for how they’re chosen.

The board Wednesday unanimously approved what it hopes is a more transparent method of selecting engineers, architects, attorneys and consultants for projects.

“It’s basically best business practices that most (private) companies would use,” said JRA board member John Reeves, who pushed for the changes.

Under the new guidelines, professional-service firms will first need to present qualifications, malpractice or liability coverage and a scope of services to JRA’s executive director.

If that person is found to be qualified for a project, the authority’s finance committee and then the full board would vote on whether to hire that firm.

If a company unexpectedly runs up extra billing hours, it would have to notify the executive director and JRA would have to approve that extra money, Reeves said.

In December, he and fellow board member Mat Thomas verbally sparred over Thomas’ attempt to bring in AJA Inc. to serve as construction monitor on a since-collapsed deal between the city and Transcontinental Realty Investors of Dallas to build a hotel to serve the Jackson Convention Complex.

Reeves said the board didn’t have the chance to thoroughly review the company’s qualifications, and that it wasn’t part of a list of firms already slated to be engaged for the hotel project.

Other members of the board said the company has a strong track record in various development projects in the state.

Thomas voted for the new system Wednesday but added he feels he acted properly in trying to have JRA include AJA in the project, since a the time there was no rule then barring his actions.

“I’m satisfied with the (new) process, as long as we follow the process,” he said.

All professional-services firms that currently do regular work for JRA will have to resubmit their qualifications.

That includes the handful of attorneys who serve as the agency’s general counsel.

Zachary Taylor, one of those attorneys, said he and his colleagues are fine with Wednesday’s decision.

Written by Jeff Ayres | Clarion Ledger

Constitution’s provision to be only issue

A judge on Monday postponed ruling whether some of former Gov. Haley Barbour’s pardons are invalid, including the reprieves for mansion trusties who served during his second term.

But Hinds County Circuit Judge Tomie Green denied motions to disqualify the attorney general’s office from arguing the case and to transfer it to another judge.

Green said former trusties – David Gatlin, Charles Hooker, Anthony McCray and Joseph Ozment, who were convicted of murder, and Nathan Kern, who was convicted of robbery – should continue to report daily to the Mississippi Department of Corrections. All but Ozment have been located since her initial order Jan. 11 and were in court on Monday.

Also, five pardoned criminals still incarcerated will remain there until the next hearing on the temporary restraining order, scheduled for 1 p.m. Feb. 3.

Hood said his office got what it hoped for in that the original order was extended, and that his office has more time to continue its review of the former governor’s pardons. He said he plans to ask for a summary judgment, a decision by the judge without a trial.

“It’s a straight up and down constitutional issue – whether it was complied with or not,” Hood said. “This is just dry law.”

Green stressed the only point argued would be the constitutionality of the pardons. But there has been debate over interpretation of the constitutional publication requirement – to publish a newspaper notice for 30 days announcing a request for a pardon. Some of those pardoned published a notice 30 days before their pardon was granted, but did not publish every day for 30 days. In the case of a weekly newspaper, Hood has said five weeks is necessary, not four, to cover 30 days.

Tom Fortner, a former Hinds County public defender representing four of the former Governor’s Mansion trusties, has said only the governor has the authority to interpret the constitutional provision.

Hood’s challenge of the pardons came after victims’ families, lawmakers and the public expressed outrage over Barbour’s decisions, which he made during his last days in office.

Barbour, a Republican, has said the challenge is political, given that he and Hood, a Democrat, were at odds throughout the former governor’s two terms. He granted more than 200 pardons, of which Hood’s office said its review showed as of Friday 25 sufficiently published, 51 had no publication, 117 had insufficient publication and 10 were still being reviewed.

In addition to Fortner, lawyers for the five pardoned inmates in prison have filed court papers in recent days seeking their release.

The five prisoners are Aaron Brown, convicted of murder; Joshua L. Howard, convicted of statutory rape; Azikiwe Kambule, convicted of armed carjacking and accessory to a murder after the fact; Katherine Robertson, convicted of aggravated assault; and Kirby Glenn Tate, convicted of delivery of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana.

Green was perturbed that several motions poured in over the weekend and on Monday, not allowing enough time for her to review them.

“All of you know how to practice law,” she said to the lawyers packed in the courtroom. “I’m good, but I’m not so good for you to come the day of the hearing and start throwing motions in baskets or the day before the hearing through email.”

Hood said his office also needed more time to respond to the motions.

Fortner filed motions Friday seeking to disqualify the attorney general’s office, for another judge to hear it and for a dismissal. He is arguing that Assistant Attorney General David Scott, assigned to represent MDOC, had developed an attorney-client privilege with the trusties when he agreed to help publish their pardon notices.

Fortner unsuccessfully argued that since Scott was representing MDOC, it’s a conflict of interest that his boss, Hood, be representing the state. The face-off has an appearance of impropriety, he said.

But Green, the county’s senior circuit judge, said she’s seen similar circumstances in past cases, and the fact that Scott works for Hood should not affect his allegiance to MDOC.

She also referenced Fortner’s motion about transferring the case to another judge, stressing that the case shouldn’t be about the judge but rather the constitution.

“This is not going to be about Judge Green – that seems to be a regular media hoopla from time to time,” she said. “This is going to be about the constitution.”

Fortner said he doesn’t yet know what his next step will be.

“I wasn’t thrilled or unthrilled,” Fortner said after the hearing. “The judge kind of laid some ground rules down, and we’ll be back on Feb. 3 to argue our point.”

Closely watching the proceedings also are lawyers for people whose pardons may be affected by Hood’s challenge.

“It’s a political matter, not a legal matter, ” said John Reeves, who is representing Buster Caldwell. “The Supreme Court would have to reverse over a 100 years of legal precedent for the attorney general to win. And, the Supreme Court rarely overturns prior case law.”

Caldwell is among the unnamed defendants, said Reeves, who attended the hearing. Convicted of rape and armed robbery in 1976 in Yalobusha County, he was paroled in 1985.

Tiffany Brewer, whose sister, Tammy Gatlin, was killed by David Gatlin in 1993, was one of 20 victims or victims’ families at the hearing.

Brewer said she was proud that neither her family nor other victims’ families lost their tempers in the court room. She said Gatlin glanced back several times and she tried not to catch his eyes.

“Everybody held their tongues and their manners,” she said.

Brewer said the victims in the courtroom hugged, exchanged phone numbers, and shared their mixed feelings about the hearing’s outcome.

“Today turned out good for us,” she said. “I wanted it to be all over today, but … we’ll move on in 11 days.”

“The Supreme Court would have to reverse over a 100 years of legal precedent for the attorney general to win.”

John Reeves, attorney

Written by Jessica Bakeman | Clarion Ledger

In fact, it could be months before Neely knows whether his election is settled.

Neely was declared the winner of the November general election by one vote over incumbent Bennie Warrington in the Southern District Justice Court race, but Warrington challenged the result. Ann McBride was the third candidate.

Warrington and Neely agreed last week in court to allow voters another opportunity to decide the winner.

Until the special election, Neely apparently will continue to serve.

But there is still a dispute over when the special election should take place.

Neely’s attorney, John Reeves of Jackson, said state code provides the special election should take place in November.

But Warrington’s attorney, Ronn Pierce, also of Jackson, said the special election should occur as soon as possible, suggesting March. He is hoping a special election date will be set for the spring.

Gov. Phil Bryant must set the date for the special election, secretary of state spokeswoman Pamela Weaver said.

Warrington said he left the courthouse on election night thinking he had won. He said he had a 21-vote lead based on the totals that night.

But after absentee and affidavit ballots, meaning paper ballots, were eventually added to totals, Neely ended up ahead by the one vote.

Circuit Judge Jannie Lewis and both Neely and Warrington agreed during last week’s court hearing that the will of voters couldn’t be determined in the split precinct, where both northern and southern districts Justice Court judge voters cast ballots.

Lewis didn’t put in her ruling that Neely had to vacate the office.

But Reeves said, “He will stay in office until an election in November and if he wins that he will continue in office.”

Pierce said he had hoped the judge would have postponed Neely assuming the post until the outcome was completely decided.

Pierce said his client would have won the election challenge, but he didn’t want the issue to be dragged out in court challenges.

A special election in Yazoo County is expected to cost about $15,000.

Written by
Jimmie E. Gates

Jackson couple awarded $600K in case

A judge on Tuesday awarded a Jackson woman and her husband $600,435 in a lawsuit arising from an abortion the woman received in 2003.

Hinds County Circuit Judge Bill Gowan awarded the money after issuing a default judgment for Daschica Thomas and her husband, Christopher Thomas, after no one showed for the scheduled Nov. 29 trial of the lawsuit.

The medical malpractice lawsuit was filed in 2005 against Dr. Joseph Booker, the then-Jackson Women’s Health Organization abortion clinic, the National Women’s Health Organization of Jackson and others.

The lawsuit alleges that Booker stopped performing the abortion shortly after starting it and said he was unable to finish it. He recommended that Thomas come back so it could be completed by another doctor. “Booker did not recommend antibiotics to her,” according to court papers. Thomas, a diabetic, began cramping and went home, but there “she continued to spot, bleed and she felt dizzy, sick and feverish.”

The abortion led to sepsis poisoning, and Thomas was in a coma for a week and half, according to the lawsuit.

“As default judgment has been entered, all factual allegations must be taken as true and if those facts establish a legal basis for recovery, plaintiff is entitled to recover,” Gowan said. “The court does find the factual allegations establish a medical malpractice action and is therefore inclined to award damages.”

Gowan awarded $500,000 in noneconomic damages to the couple, of which $100,000 goes to the husband; $19,820.83 to Thomas for lost wages and $9,700 to her husband for lost wages; $64,914.60 for Thomas’ medical bills; and $6,000 in punitive damages.

“The court was very methodical in its ruling and very fair,” the couple’s attorney, John Reeves of Jackson, said. “Mrs. Thompson and her husband were terribly wronged, and we now have this judgment that we look forward to collecting.”

Booker, who lives in Madison, couldn’t be reached for comment.

Shannon Brewer, director of All Women’s Healthcare of Jackson, the only abortion clinic in Mississippi, has said the default judgment would have no affect on the clinic because it is under new ownership. That is, the National Women’s Health Organization no longer owns the Mississippi clinic.

Booker no longer works at the clinic in Jackson and is seeking his own default judgment against the clinic owner because of a lack of a response to his lawsuit.

In his lawsuit, Booker said he had worked at the clinic from 2002 until he was terminated July 30, 2010, by Dianne Derzis, who took over the Jackson Women’s Health Organization clinic in June 2010. He alleges that he was retaliated against for refusing to perform an abortion procedure not approved by the FDA and discriminated against after he was replaced by a white doctor who would use the procedure.

The wrongful termination lawsuit against Jackson Women’s Health Organization Inc. and All Women’s Healthcare of Jackson Inc. was amended in April after it had been filed earlier in Hinds County Circuit Court.

Derzis could not be reached for comment.

Written by The Clarion-Ledger