A Jefferson County Circuit Court judge has quashed subpoenas seeking the depositions of Alabama Power Company executives in the wrongful termination lawsuit brought by former Drummond Coal executive David Roberson and his wife, Anna.
Judge Tamara Harris Johnson ruled that the request to depose APCO CEO Mark Crosswhite and other Alabama Power executives was overly broad and unlikely to yield information relevant to the Robersons’ case against Drummond.
“The Court finds that the information sought by the Plaintiffs is not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence in the above captioned case, but is designed to harass and expose those persons/entities whom Plaintiffs believe should be, at minimum, equally accountable as Plaintiff David Roberson has been held,” Johnson wrote in her order. “This is neither the case nor the forum for that adjudication.”
Roberson was the only Drummond employee to be arrested and serve prison time for his role in the North Birmingham Superfund scandal. He has maintained that he was unaware of the illegal nature of the scheme and was set up to take the fall for a number of others who concocted and carried out the scheme to bribe former state Rep. Oliver Robinson. Robinson pleaded guilty in the case.
As part of his case, Roberson has claimed that APCO and others were a participant in the scheme. On that basis, he sought to depose Crosswhite and others.
However, the court ruled several months ago that the scope of Roberson’s case was limited entirely to Drummond, making it essentially a wrongful termination matter. With that being the case, Johnson determined that Crosswhite and APCO employees are unlikely to have information that would be relevant to Roberson’s claims against Drummond.
