Clawback suit seeks $420K from US transportation secretary concerning in-house counsel pay
Anthony Foxx.
A trustee in a corporate bankruptcy case is seeking $420,000 from U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx.
The clawback suit was filed Friday by trustee Elaine Rudisill in federal bankruptcy court in Charlotte, North Carolina. The suit claims that Foxx, while serving as mayor of Charlotte, also held a job as deputy general counsel for which he did little or no work, reports the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.).
The amount sought represents what Foxx earned while working for now-bankrupt bus maker DesignLine Corp. between 2009 and 2013. He was the mayor of Charlotte during that same period, and won the election as a Democrat. He resigned both positions to begin his job as transportation secretary.
Rudisill says Foxx spent “little to no time at the debtors’ facilities during the relevant time period,” and that there is no evidence Foxx communicated with two outside law firms paid millions of dollars to represent DesignLine. The company’s books and records “do not reflect any communications between defendant and the outside firms, nor do they reflect any activities or actions of defendant in his role as deputy general counsel,” she wrote in the clawback filing.
Rudisill is also pursuing clawback suits against dozens of other defendants in conjunction with the company’s 2013 bankruptcy, the article notes.
A lawyer for Foxx wasn’t immediately available to respond to the newspaper’s request for comment.
However, attorney Mark MacDougall told the Charlotte Observer that he expects his client to prevail in the “routine” matter.
“It was filed just before the statue of limitations ran out,” MacDougall told the newspaper. “We are confident it will be resolved in the secretary’s favor.”
