Federal Lawsuit Challenges Special Appointments Letting Judge Michelle Thomason Hear Circuit Cases

BAY MINETTE, Ala. — A federal lawsuit challenges a decade-long series of special appointments that have allowed Baldwin County District Judge Michelle Thomason to hear circuit court cases, including family court matters.

District and Circuit Courts

Thomason was elected as a district judge. According to attorney Austin Burdick, district courts in Alabama are courts of limited jurisdiction that typically handle misdemeanor criminal cases, civil claims of less than $10,000 and some felony proceedings. Circuit courts are courts of general jurisdiction, where more serious and most other legal matters are decided.

Origin of the Challenge

Burdick, a Bessemer-based attorney, was hired last year to step into a 7-year-old divorce case in Baldwin County. He sought Thomason’s recusal, citing an alleged conflict of interest and the jurisdictional question. Thomason, who had denied a similar recusal motion years earlier, denied the motion again, and higher courts declined to hear appeals.

In July, Burdick took the complaint to federal court, naming Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill as a defendant. In the federal suit, Burdick represents Chey Garrigan, a party in the underlying divorce and custody case.

Claims in the Lawsuit

In the filing, Burdick claimed that state law limits special court appointments to 180 consecutive days and that “the successive reappointments of Thomason to hear circuit court cases for more than a decade is a blatant act of voter disenfranchisement.”

“The problem is we have a judge who is running as a district court judge, the voters are told she’s a district court judge, and Alabama law tells us what district court judges may do and it’s very limited,” Burdick said. “And then instead of taking the office she was elected to, she is taking the office of a circuit court judge, so the voters are really being disenfranchised.”

The claims have not been ruled on by the federal court.

Officials’ Response

The Secretary of State and the presiding Baldwin County circuit judge have offered explanations for the appointments.