The former finance director for the Cocke County Partnership has filed her answer to a $250,000 lawsuit by her former employer, vigorously refuting the lawsuit’s allegations.
Sommer White remains the only defendant in the civil suit after other parties, including Cocke County Commissioner Rick Vassar, were dropped from the lawsuit.
A significant allegation in the Partnership lawsuit is that White had stolen a hard drive. It is just one of several allegations that, through her counsel John Bell, White refutes in her answer to the complaint.
Her answer accuses former Partnership Director Lucas Graham of embezzlement of funds, referring to alleged “unauthorized transactions” on the Partnership credit card.
The State of Tennessee’s Comptroller’s Office is actively investigating the various allegations, however, its long-awaited report has not yet been issued.
White, in her 15-page answer, states she is a “cooperating witness and a whistleblower” in the matter. Specifically, the answer states “Sommer White did not take any hard drive at any time, including with her when she resigned,” which was alleged in the Partnership lawsuit and in a police report it filed with the Newport Police Department.
In her answer, she states “she kept some evidence of the theft/embezzlement on her personal cell phone in the form of texts and emails sent to her and from her phone.” The answer further alleges there was an “attempt to delete the evidence” by Partnership personnel erasing the data on her cell phone after she submitted her resignation and after being instructed to gather her personal items. She states, however, she was “able to restore the erased texts and emails to her phone” and provided the restored information to Vassar and Newport Police.
White also refutes allegations against her of writing bonus checks to herself, removing deductions for health insurance and that she “abused the company credit card.”
The lawsuit filed May 22 by the Partnership asked for compensatory damages in the amount of $250,000 and sought punitive damages from White in the amount of $50,000 for conversion of property, embezzlement and fraud. It also originally sought damages from Vassar and his wife for slander for not less than $50,000 and punitive damages in the amount of five times the sum of compensatory damages.
The lawsuit requested a jury trial.
However, the same day as The Newport Plain Talk published its story on the lawsuit, the Partnership, in a June 5 executive session, dropped its action against the Vassars and unnamed John and Jane Doe.
Less than one week later, on June 11, Graham tendered his resignation.
“We are working through the details of the transition process and hope to be able to articulate our plan in more detail next week,” Cocke County Economic Development Board (EDB) Chairman George Barton said at the time. “We hope to move forward with the hiring process and have more solid plans in place then.”
No announcement has been made regarding a replacement for Graham, who served as the Partnership director since 2015.
In her answer, White asserts her right to file a countersuit.
David Hamilton, the attorney representing the Partnership in its lawsuit, did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment on Monday.
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