Butler v. Town of Argo
| Decision Date | 30 June 2003 |
| Citation | 871 So.2d 1 |
| Parties | Kim BUTLER v. TOWN OF ARGO. Paul Jennings v. Kim Butler. Kathryn Ayres v. Kim Butler. John Wayne Fore v. Kim Butler. Kim Butler v. Paul Jennings et al. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Tom Burgess and Murray H. Gibson, Jr., of Burgess & Hale, LLC, Birmingham, for Kim Butler.
Robert R. Baugh and Kerry P. McInerney of Sirote & Permutt, P.C., Birmingham, for Paul Jennings and Town of Argo.
James R. Shaw of Huie, Fernambucq & Stewart, LLP, Birmingham, for John Wayne Fore and Kathryn Ayres.
Paul Jennings, John Wayne Fore, and Kathryn Ayres appeal from a judgment entered against them on a jury verdict in the Jefferson Circuit Court. Kim Butler appeals the order of the trial court remitting the damages award. We reverse the judgment against Jennings, Fore, and Ayres; we dismiss Butler's appeal from the judgment against the Town of Argo;1 and we dismiss as moot Butler's appeal from the judgment against Jennings, Fore, and Ayres.
Paul Jennings ran for mayor of the Town of Argo in August 1996. The race between Jennings and his opponent was divisive and the election was close. After an election contest, Jennings was declared the mayor by a margin of two votes, and he began serving in November 1996. Shortly after Jennings entered office, the chief of police of Argo, Larry Leonard, left his job and filed an unrelated action against the Town of Argo, members of the city council, and Mayor Jennings.2 On February 8, 1997, Kim Butler, a resident of Hayden, Alabama, was driving through Argo when she was stopped by Officer John Wayne Fore, who cited Butler for speeding and issued her a speeding ticket. Later that month, Butler telephoned Mayor Jennings, with whom she had attended high school, to discuss the ticket. Because Jennings was not in at the time of her call, Butler left a message on his answering machine. When Jennings called Butler back, Butler expressed concern that the speeding ticket would cause her insurance rates to increase. According to Butler and Jennings, Butler stated that she was willing to pay the ticket, but she wanted to know if there was any way to keep her insurance company from finding out about the ticket. Jennings told Butler that he had been in office only a short time and that he did not know what, if anything, he could do for her. He told her that he would look into the situation and get back in touch with her.
On February 22, 1997, Jennings called Officer Fore, who was on patrol, into the mayor's office. It was a Sunday night, and no one else was in the building at that time. When Fore arrived at Jennings's office, they began to discuss the speeding ticket Fore had issued to Butler. Unbeknownst to Jennings, Fore had a small tape recorder in the front pocket of his shirt and he tape-recorded the remainder of the conversation. The following transcript was made of the taped conversation3:
Butler testified that, after the telephone conversation with Jennings, her ticket was dismissed and she knew nothing about the circumstances of the dismissal. She stated that Jennings never called her back and that she did not make any kind of payment or donation in order to get the ticket dismissed. Jennings testified that he did not contact Butler about the ticket or the dismissal after their initial telephone conversation.
Officer Fore, after...
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