Case in point: five years ago, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, Elton Alexander, a city councilman in Stockbridge, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, visited the Georgia Championship Barbecue Company and asked the owner, Arick Whitson, if he wanted to do business with the city. Whitson, perhaps sensing an opportunity to sell more barbecue, said that he did.
Alexander’s interpretation of doing business was slightly different. He did order $60 worth of food. But when the bill arrived, he refused to pay. “I thought you wanted to do business with the city?” Alexander told (threatened?) Whitson. And then he left without paying.
Over the next year, Whitson was harassed by the Stockbridge’s code enforcement officers, who made several visits to Georgia Championship Barbecue. He had trouble getting a liquor license and signage and building permits. To make things worse, Alexander filed false complaints with the Henry County District Attorney’s office that claimed that Whitson was on the National Sex Offender Registry and was abusive to women. After Whitson filed an ethics complaint against Alexander in January 2017, the attacks only got worse.
So in May 2017, after a year of “doing business” with Alexander, Whitson sued the city of Stockbridge. The lawsuit was recently settled out of court for $1.7 million: $1.2 million to Whitson and the remaining $534,000 to his lawyers.
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