Just because someone is named as a defendant in a lawsuit, it doesn’t mean they did anything wrong, despite appearances.
That’s what Sallisaw attorney Fourth Scoufos told the Sequoyah County Commissioners last week at their weekly meeting in which it was revealed that the county is named as a defendant in a lawsuit expected to be litigated beginning this month.
“Oftentimes when people see a lawsuit filed, it’s somebody versus somebody,” Scoufos told the commissioners. “I represent some landowners here in the county, and the Board of County Commissioners are named as a defendant in this lawsuit.”
The lawsuit concerns a landowner who has barricaded what is generally considered a public road, effectively closing the roadway.
“When you take this up in your new business next week, it’s important for me to point out, the county’s named as a party to the suit because you have an interest in the roadway, and I don’t want the public or the board to think this is an assault on the county commissioners,” Scoufos assured the commissioners. “It’s not, that’s not at all it.
“But because the county has the duty to maintain roadways and because you have the say so over roadways, you’re a party in interest in the case. And the reason you’re named is so you can have your input, and we’re gonna have a hearing in two or three weeks, it may be put off. But we just need to find out, first and foremost, is it a public road, does this person have the authority to close it unilaterally,” Scoufos explained.
Scoufos said he has spoken on several occasions with District Attorney Jack Thorp about the lawsuit.
“I really envision this to be more of a united front [rather] than a landowners versus the county,” Scoufos told the commissioners. “The essence of the lawsuit is my clients want the road opened back up, and the input this board can give us would be appreciated. I look forward to working with you on this, not against you.”
Thorp told the commissioners the filing, received Sept. 27, lists as plaintiffs Duane Martindale, Tyler Martindale, Charles Brown and Sonya Lee Brown. The district attorney said he expects the lawsuit to be an executive session item in the future.
According to Scoufos, the lawsuit involves the roadway commonly called Old Stagecoach Road, north of Akins. “I’ve always considered it a public road and gone up and down it more times than I can count,” Scoufos offered. “But the allegations of the lawsuit are that it’s a public roadway, and one of the adjoining landowners up there has taken it upon himself to close the road by placing some barricades and gates and large boulders and, I think, maybe dug a ditch or something.
“I wanna clarify, just because the Board of County Commissioners is on the other side of the versus, this is not an assault or an attack on the county commissioners,” the attorney for the plaintiffs reiterated.
In other business, the commissioners approved: • Renewal of annual service contracts for Sequoyah County Health Department.
• The 2024 Sheriff’s Office Funding Grant Program agreement. “This has been a long time coming,” District 3 Commissioner Jim Rogers said of the $250,000 grant. “The biggest problem that the [Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma] had was we didn’t feel like it should be a yearly grant, it should be perpetual, year after year. So hopefully we can get to that point and know that we can count on those funds each year.”
• Surplussing a 2019 Dodge Durango from Sequoyah County Emergency Management, which will be donated to Muldrow Police Department.
• Estimate of needs for Fiscal Year 2024-25. This is part of the annual budgeting process.
