A federal judge has dropped a lawsuit claiming the Greenwood Public School District broke its contract with a Greenwood businessman because of political statements he made during his 1999 legislative campaign.
In March 2001, Danny White and his wife, Pat, sued the district and the School Board in U.S. District Court in Greenville on behalf of their company Employee Benefit Concepts Inc., or EBC.
The Whites business had provided benefit packages for school cafeteria employees for more than 12 years, when on Jan. 27, 2000, Superintendent Les Daniels sent notice that the district wanted out, according to court documents.
The breach-of-contract suit claimed the termination was meant to "punish" Danny White for his political views and thereby violated his First Amendment right to free speech.
He espoused conservative values on abortion, voter identification and public education in his unsuccessful run for the state House of Representatives. His campaign included a full page advertisement titled "Birds of a Feather?" that included a picture of three crows perched on a campaign sign for White's challenger, May Whittington, who went on to win the election.
The ad included a comment about White's opponent: "Like the crows on a sign, she'll take flight right along with her Democratic allies and vote the liberal Party line."
Daniels' letter came less than two months after the election.
But once the lawsuit was active, the Whites, who were represented by Greenwood attorney, Tom P. Calhoun III, never responded to the district's motion for dismissal, according to court documents. The Whites moved away from Greenwood sometime during the court proceedings.
U.S. District Judge W. Allen Pepper Jr. in a Dec. 12 opinion ruled that the no-show by the Whites resulted in a lack of evidence to prove that the district's action was biased.
He wrote, "As such, this court has no evidence before it to indicate that the EBC contract was terminated in retaliation for White's exercise of his First Amendment rights, and his First Amendment claim must fail."
Daniels calls the lawsuit "frivolous."
"We wasted $9,000 of public money with this frivolous lawsuit, but we are very pleased with the judgment," he said.
He still stresses that the decision to cancel the contract was "a business decision" made for purely budgetary reasons. Other insurance companies were offering the same service for free, he explained.
"We were looking for ways to cut back expenses in the school district at that time," he said. "There were companies out there offering this identical service, and better services, for free."
That the district's financial overhaul became tangled in "a political dogfight" was just bad timing, he said. "The timing couldn't have been worse."
Daniels letter came less than three months after the election.
In response to the breach-of-contract claim, Pepper said the district rightfully pulled out of its association with Employee Benefits Concepts. The contract stipulated that either party could terminate the contract by giving 60 days notice to the other party.
"The plaintiffs acknowledge that the contract was terminated by Dr. Daniels within 60 days, as provided by the contract," Pepper wrote.
