MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A second ouster petition has been filed against Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert.
The complaint, filed in Shelby County Circuit Court, is the second ouster petition filed against Halbert in 2024. The first case, filed by Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp, was thrown out on a legal technicality.
The new complaint, filed by Shelby County Attorney Robert Meyers, reiterates many of the positions from the initial ouster case, including inaccurate and untimely financial reporting, strain on auto dealerships, comptroller deficiencies and leasing issues.
The complaint also requests Halbert be suspended from office until a final hearing is conducted.
Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Felicia Corbin-Johnson granted a motion to dismiss the case to oust Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert from office in June.
That petition was filed by Hamilton County District Attorney General Coty Wamp on behalf of the State of Tennessee to remove her from office as Shelby County Clerk, after Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy recused himself from proceedings.
"The court is just not persuaded at this time by the state’s argument that they have jurisdiction, I’m sorry, Ms. Wamp and her office, that they have jurisdiction to bring this proceeding, pursuant to Tennessee Code annotated 87106 A1," Corbin-Johnson said during the hearing. “The law is also very clear that if the plaintiff does not have standing (authority) then this court does not have subject matter jurisdiction. And as we all know, this court is only authorized to adjudicate cases where this court has subject matter jurisdiction.
“The court is of the opinion that Ms. Halbert’s motion has merit and that it should be granted. This court cannot manufacture jurisdiction or navigate in such a way to try and find jurisdiction, subject matter jurisdiction, where jurisdiction simply does not exist.”
Johnson said in court that the Hamilton County D.A. did not have the authority to bring the ouster proceedings, as Tennessee law requires those proceedings to involve the same jurisdiction as the elected official in question. In Halbert's case, the ouster proceedings would have to come from Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy's office.
The initial filing said that Halbert consistently fails to turn in monthly reports to the trustee in a timely manner and said there is no legitimate reason for the failure to do so. The petition also said the reports were inaccurate “with collected dollar amounts not added properly."
The petition alleges that Halbert's reporting became so "untrustworthy," that the Shelby County finance department had to stop submitting the final reports in a timely manner because the inaccuracies were jeopardizing Shelby County budgetary numbers.
According to the petition, Halbert maintains she does not have the funding to fully staff her office but is consistently underbudget and has historically given a "significant amount" of her budget back to the county at the end of each fiscal year.
The filing also said that the county estimates that Halbert's office owes hundreds of thousands of dollars to Shelby County government due to financing technology issues with the county.
It also said that the "neglect of duties" has had a strain on Shelby County businesses, specifically car dealerships who rely on the Clerk's Office to conduct business.
Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp said she was disappointed in the outcome, that her office had put a lot of work into.
"We hope someone can pick this up," Wamp said. "If not, it's going to be a long two years. I'd hate for this to happen to Hamilton County."
Wamp said after proceedings she believes a Shelby County Attorney can file to remove a county elected official and would be in good position to pick up the proceedings.