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Morris files suit against Boyce
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Patrick County School Superintendent Roger Morris has filed a lawsuit against Lock Boyce, the chairman of the Patrick County Board of Supervisors, alleging defamation and attempting to have Morris removed from his position.
The suit was filed Tuesday in Patrick County Circuit Court by D. Stan Barnhill of Woods Rogers PLC of Roanoke. It seeks $10 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages.
Most of the allegations in the suit are based on comments made by Boyce on his weekly radio show, “Patrick County Topics,” on WHEO, according to an account in The Enterprise newspaper in Stuart. Morris said the article correctly reported on the suit.
He would not elaborate on it. “The pleading speaks for itself,” he added.
According to the suit, “Morris has been an unfortunate and undeserving target” of attacks during the radio show and other contacts, The Enterprise reported. The suit claims that the alleged attacks have severely damaged Morris’ reputation in the community, the newspaper reported.
Among the issues covered in the suit are alleged uses of school credit cards, which the Virginia State Police determined involved no wrongdoing; allegations of intimidation of teachers and administrators; and allegations of orchestrating alleged unfair treatment of certain retired Patrick teachers, according to the suit as reported in The Enterprise. All the allegations are false, the suit added.
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