The former city manager of Martinsville has amended her lawsuit involving the locality to aim one of its claims against a city council member and law firm instead of the city itself.

Former City Manager Aretha Ferrell-Benavides redirected one count of her lawsuit – that she was retaliated against as a whistleblower – from the city to Councilman Aaron Rawls and the law firm that previously acted as city attorney, Sands Anderson.

The city was a defendant on six counts of the eleven-count lawsuit and now is the defendant on five, whereas Rawls and Sands Anderson were on three counts and now are on four.

The latest legal filings in the litigation also show that an attorney who was representing Ferrell-Benavides and Mayor L.C. Jones alike is now just representing Jones in his lawsuit against Rawls and Sands Anderson, which he filed in June for counts including defamation and First Amendment retaliation.

Mark Krudys, the attorney who no longer represents Ferrell-Benavides, filed the amended complaint Sept. 7 to remove the city from the whistleblower matter before filing the motion to withdraw as attorney Sept. 9. Krudys did not respond to a request for comment. Jones confirmed that Krudys is still his attorney but did not respond to a further request for comment.

Verbena Askew of Newport News is still acting as Ferrell-Benavides’ attorney, and Justin Gelfand of St. Louis was added as Ferrell-Benavides’ additional attorney, replacing Krudys. Gelfand is a former federal...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMi0gFBVV95cUxPTlF3UjRQU3pNS0dyWXZ1bWh4...