MEMPHIS, Tenn. — This story will be updated.
The Shelby County Attorney's Office has retained an attorney to proceed with the case to oust Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert, the attorney's office confirmed Friday.
Chief Litigation Attorney for the Shelby County Attorney's Office Lee Whitwell confirmed that he retained Attorney Robert Meyers.
"Based on guidance from the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility, County Attorney Iverson has an ethical conflict that prevents her from involvement in this matter," Whitwell said. "I was designated with the authority to refer the matter to outside counsel, and today I retained Attorney Meyers to proceed with the case."
Whitwell said he cannot comment in any more detail on pending litigation.
Shelby County Circuit Court judge granted motion to dismiss case
Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Felicia Corbin-Johnson granted the motion to dismiss the case to oust Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert from office on June 21.
Hamilton County District Attorney General Coty Wamp filed a petition on behalf of the State of Tennessee to remove her from office as Shelby County Clerk.
"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.”
Shelby County Circuit Court case history shows that the complaint was filed Monday, May 6, and a summons had been issued.
The 49-page petition asked the court to remove Halbert from office "due to willful neglect to perform a duty enjoined upon the Shelby County Clerk by the laws of the State of Tennessee."
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.
In a previous post to social media, Halbert cited repeated requests she said she made for an investigation into concerns within the office.
"The Office of the Shelby County Clerk over the last 5+ years has repeatedly 'sounded the alarm' regarding a host of findings/concerns (financial included)," Halbert wrote. "Said concerns have been documented and reported to multiple legal County & State entities but never investigated. Fortunately, the day has come that FINALLY begins direct attention to the matters we have raised. While our team cannot discuss these and other matters, we will not be afraid to do what the law requires of us. When given authority, we commit to being transparent and will report accordingly."
The 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.