By Lee Hedgepeth
Alabama Political Reporter
DECATUR – At a time when Alabama’s top Republican in the GOP Supermajority-led House of Representatives is under investigation by a Grand Jury for public corruption, the chamber’s second-in-command is being sued.
Alabama House Majority Leader Mickey Hammond, R-Decatur, is being sued by Regions bank for allegedly failing to make payments on hundreds of thousand of dollars in personal loans.
Regions is seeking nearly half a million dollars from the legislator for failure to adequately pay a home equity loan which had already resulted in one court award against the lawmaker in 2012. Both suits stem from a 2006 loan Hammond received using a Florida condominium as equity.
Regions says the new lawsuit comes only after Rep. Hammond failed to pay the required settlement ordered in the 2012 complaint he lost, paying only $20,000 through April of 2013.
The original 2006 home equity line Hammond took out totaled only $305,000, but with court and attorney fees from both legal cases in tow, the Decatur Republican may be forced to fork over $410,388 if he loses in court.
Rep. Hammond says that he has always paid his bills on time, and plans to let the issue be dealt with by the court.
