The 12 defendants in a civil lawsuit filed by former Mobile police chief Paul Prine are asking for it to be dismissed.
Motions filed for dismissal offer a stark contrast to what happened before Prine's April 30, 2024, termination, as stated in his lawsuit.
Prine alleges city officials conspired to oust him, even setting up an investigation into the police department's policies and procedures to accomplish their goal. The lawsuit called the investigation by former U.S. Attorney Kenyen Brown a "witch hunt" and a "hit piece" against Prine to cause irreparable damage to his character and to support his termination.
Brown, along with Mayor Sandy Stimpson, Stimpson's chief of staff James Barber, public safety director Rob Lasky, Councilmen CJ Small, Joel Daves, Cory Penn, William Carroll, Ben Reynolds, the Thompson Coburn law firm, Powers Consulting Group and former FBI agent Tyrone Powers are the defendants named in the lawsuit.
Council members have entered a motion to be dismissed from the suit, asserting absolute legislative immunity.
"While the Mobile City Council Defendants deny the statements listed in Prine's complaint are defamatory, even if they were, statements made during Council meetings as the members were debating and discussing the above referenced resolutions are subject to legislative immunity and are not actionable," the motion states.
Court documents requesting the dismissal of claims on behalf of Stimpson, Barber and Lasky claim Prine's allegations are "baseless." They state Prine went on a public mud-slinging campaign within hours of him being suspended and placed on administrative leave.
Several specific allegations were addressed.
"Despite extensive investigation, none of Prine's accusations against Defendants have been (or can be) substantiated," the motion reads.
The motion denies statements were false or defamatory but says even if they were, they are subject to privileges protecting public officials from liability.
The defendants further claimed "Prine is the opposite of a whistleblower" and said he only made allegations to leverage a $600,000 severance package.
The defendants denied claims that Barber asserted control over MPD and that he leaked the Jawan Dallas autopsy report to news reporters after growing "tired of the Dallas family."
"If anything, Chief Barber felt compassion for and sympathized with the Dallas family," the defendants state. "Among several other claims the defendants deny is the claim that grievances filed by Prine were not investigated. A Nov. 20, 2023, verbal grievance from Prine to Barber, consisting of Prine accusing Barber of lying to him about whether the city council was concerned about Prine's leadership, was passed onto Stimpson, the motion states. Defendants say the verbal grievance "did not trigger the requirements of a formal investigation, absent alleged facts, policy violations, specific acts of misconduct, and/or supporting evidence."
As for two written grievances, a Jan. 22, 2024 email from Prine stated that Lasky made an unprofessional comment about Prine, saying he was "tired of Prine's sh---" in reference to complaints Prine made about issues between MPD and the Gulf Coast Technology Center, led at that time by Commander of Intelligence Kevin Levy. Upon investigation, Lasky admitted making the comment and assured it would not happen again, the motion states.
In a second written grievance emailed on March 18, 2024, Prine made corruption allegations against Lasky, Barber, and Levy in reference to a review of Operation Echo Stop (OES). Along with a disparaging statement about Lasky's involvement in the 2017 Parkland, Fla. school shooting, the defendants claim the email was all part of "Prine's insubordinate plan to intimidate Lasky and tarnish his reputation."
After failing to resolve issues, "Mayor Stimpson determined Prine could no longer continue as Chief of Police." The parties met to discuss separation on March 27, 2024. After the meeting Stimpson made comments to the media and claimed Prine went "AWOL."
The response to the lawsuit states that Prine was physically present at MPD headquarters during that time but "essentially checked out from his position."
Prine was placed on leave on April 9, 2024.
Answer to Lawsuit by Erica Thomas on Scribd
Prine has maintained transparency throughout the ordeal, speaking to media outlets about separation options, which he claims offered him a deal if he signed a non-disparagement provision.
The defendants deny there was ever a "witch hunt" against Prine.
Defendants Brown, Thompson Coburn, LLP, Tyrone Powers and Powers Consulting Group LLC are asking to be dismissed from the suit. The investigative defendants say "The Brown Report" investigation was not initiated to focus on Prine. Further, Brown and Thompson Coburn, LLP were retained by the City of Mobile to look into several high-profile use-of-force incidents. They claim they are immune from defamation claims due to qualified immunity. They double down on claims Prine has "autocratic tendencies" and state that the statements in Prine's lawsuit are an example.
"Instead of showing of 'constitutional malice', the Plaintiff's allegations demonstrate a lack of reckless disregard of the Investigative Defendants in conducting the investigation and commenting on the findings," the motion continues.
The motion also states that the findings of "The Brown Report" are subject to Alabama's "Fair Report" privilege, allowing public body investigation findings to be privileged unless actual malice is proven.
The defendants say the investigation's findings "do not assert any false statement, asserted as fact." It is important to note that city officials previously stated it was "unfortunate" that false information was, in fact, included in the report. However, the Investigative Defendants say statements in the report are not actionable because they are "explicitly designated as opinions or are observations and recommendations."
Following the recusal of Circuit Judges of the 13th Judicial Circuit of Alabama, Supreme Court Chief Justice Sarah Stewart assigned the case to retired Autauga County Circuit Judge Ben Fuller.
A hearing on all pending motions will be held on March 14 at 9 a.m.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email erica.thomas@1819news.com.
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