A judge threw out a motion to hold McComb Mayor Zach Patterson in contempt of court this morning.
The issue centered around late payments of attorney fees in connection with the mayor’s slander lawsuit against Police Chief Greg Martin and Martin’s countersuit against the mayor.
Circuit Court Judge David Strong had ordered Patterson to pay Martin’s attorney, John Ott of McComb, $4,500 as a condition for a delay in his lawsuit against Martin. The mayor did not pay that amount by a court-ordered deadline, and Ott sought to have Patterson held in contempt of court.
But Strong today agreed with Patterson, who filed an appeal last week saying the contempt charge is moot since he has already paid the $4,500 to Ott.
Patterson, who was present during the hearing, also had sought to have the hearing delayed, citing a scheduling conflict and alleging that Ott had not discussed the hearing date with him.
In a response to Patterson’s appeal filed Tuesday, Ott confirmed the mayor’s payment on Aug. 27 but disagreed with Patterson’s claim that the two did not discuss the hearing date.
Ott argued that the mayor acknowledged the hearing date the same day he delivered the check to the attorney.
“Approximately five minutes after delivering the check, plaintiff called defendant’s attorney asking if the Sept. 8 hearing on the issue of contempt was still scheduled,” the response reads.
Ott said he told Patterson that the hearing was still scheduled.
“In that conversation, Patterson acknowledged that he would be present at the Sept. 8 hearing, unless notified otherwise by the court or by defendant’s attorney.”
The response also argued that Patterson should have scheduled a hearing for his objection, and did not do this step.
