By Staff ReportA whistleblower lawsuit filed against Washington County alleging retaliation and accusing a former county commissioner of gross misconduct has been dismissed by Circuit Court Judge Ana Maria Garcia.
The lawsuit was first filed in 2022 by now-Commissioner Wesley Griffin prior to his election to office later that same year and claimed former Commissioner Tray Hawkins received illegal kickbacks in exchange for his participation in a government contract.
Griffin, owner of A & W Construction, filed the action claiming he was retaliated against for reporting unlawful employment practices within the county resulting in his company being passed over for work in favor of Hawkins’ brother-in-law’s company, Lagniappe Consulting.
The complaint also alleged the county retaliated against Griffin by taking away work resulting in Griffin having significantly less work than Lagniappe or none at all.
Judge Garcia dismissed the case on April 22, 2025, stating in her ruling that the county established “legitimate, nonretaliatory reasons for its actions.” Her order stated Griffin failed to meet his burden to prove that the County’s actions were specific to A & W Construction because other contractors were also stopped from working. The judge went on to say Griffin failed to prove Lagniappe performed any work after July or that any work that Lagniappe performed for the County after that date was even related to FEMA projects and that A & W Construction was given additional work on the concrete drainage features contract after July 15, 2021.
“…Griffin stated the County retaliated by refusing to assign him any more work after June 15, 2021 [and that] Lagniappe was offered the opportunity to continue the project at a reduced rate but [Griffin] was not offered that opportunity,” stated the court document. “However, Lagniappe did not do any work for the County after July 15, 2021. That was reflected in a July 16, 2021 invoice for $131,900. The County’s last payment to Lagniappe was on August 2, 2021 for that amount.”
The Judge’s ruling went on to note that Griffin’s company was not the only one whose work was stopped.
“The County stopped all contractors as of July 15, 2021,” states Judge Garcia in the ruling. “[Griffin] argued that the County still had a $4 million contract with FEMA, but Plaintiff did not present competent evidence that the County had FEMA money available after July 15, 2021. Plaintiff asserted that Lagniappe continued to work as a subcontractor after that date, but Plaintiff did not present competent evidence in support of this claim or its relevance to the case.”
Washington County has filed a motion for sanctions in the case asking the court to have Griffin pay for all attorney fees.
That motion is still pending.
Hannah Collins