Prolific Louisville attorney Teddy Gordon asked a federal judge to reopen a lawsuit against Jefferson County Public Schools over an allegedly discriminatory transportation plan.
The request came late last week, two days after the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting revealed Gordon filed to dismiss the case in January without getting his clients’ permission.
In his request to reopen the case, Gordon told the judge the motion is “based upon excusable neglect.”
“[Gordon] apologizes to this Honorable Court, Counsel and parties for his inadvertent oversight,” Gordon wrote in an affidavit.
Gordon said the cold weather was “extremely harmful” to his health, and that he believed he could not successfully continue litigation without an expert witness, which his plaintiffs could not pay for.
Legal experts told KyCIR attorneys should file to withdraw from a case if they are facing health issues so that the case can continue and the plaintiffs can find new representation. Dropping a case without permission could violate rules for attorney conduct, the experts said.
Along with his request to reopen the case last Thursday, Gordon also filed to withdraw as counsel. He is asking the judge to give his clients 60 days to find a new attorney.
Taryn Bell, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, told KyCIR she worries she and the other plaintiffs won’t be able to find new representation.
The Louisville Branch of the NAACP originally connected Bell with Gordon.
“Unless they’re [the Louisville NAACP] willing to help with the attorney part, I honestly don’t even know how I would try to pull that off in 60 days,” Bell said.
Bell also said Gordon did not contact her or her fellow plaintiffs before he filed to reopen the case.
Gordon declined to comment for this story.
