Taylor Councilman Gary Solomon filed a complaint Aug. 31 in federal court against the Town of Taylor, Arvin Palmer, John Cole, Jane Lee, Eric Duthie, James Gibson, Debbie Tuckfield, Jared Hatch, Brian Birtcher, Jordy Fuentes, Steve Sturgell, Fay Hatch, Jason Brubaker, David Smith, Carl Cosper, Lynn Dewitt, Robin Palmer and Shawn Palmer that seeks $1 million in damages.
Duthie and Sturgell are past town managers, and the others are serving or have served on the Taylor Town Council.
Solomon alleges in Count 1 that they caused the destruction of Solomon Construction, a firm owned by him and his wife, as well as “mental anguish and distress for having to pay thousands of dollars to defend myself and my family because the Town of Taylor and the council members named above allowed Hatch Development Company, LLC to develop property as in general contractor without the proper license and no insurance allowed to continued.”
The complaint alleges, “Hatch did not have ADQ approval to hook up sewer lines from the Town of Taylor. They were responsible because they knew about these issues, and didn’t tell me until I became aware in 2013 of these issues.”
The complaint further states, “Eric Duthie, town manager at the time, deceived me,” explaining that when Solomon asked for information regarding the Palmer Trust, he could not get paperwork or copies, and they would not disclose anything to Solomon, making “the Taylor Family responsible as he (Duthie) was town manager at the time.
“In 2014 I started to uncover many more facts about the case. I obtained more paperwork to present my case at hand.
“The Town of Taylor clearly and (visibly) violated my constitutional rights (by) not allowing me to get information to defend myself.
“It was only in 2014 that I was able to procure the proper documents to hold the Town of Taylor and Hatch Development and Eric Duthie which were that Hatch Development did not (possess) expertise nor ADQ approval to begin the job that they did trenches that were open with no back fill to prevent harm to the public. Since Hatch Development operated without the proper license Sol’s Construction Company (was) hired as a scapegoat to cover the Hatch Development negligence. The Town of Taylor sold Jason Hatch this property in question that belonged to Palmer Trust to rid the Town of Taylor of any further responsibility.”
Count 2 of the complaint states, “Hatch Development Company, LLC. filed the lawsuit against me and was awarded summary judgment without me being allowed to ever step one foot inside the courtroom. The judge in this case was Robert J. Higgins who clearly and deliberately showed extreme prejudice against me and my family because of the relationship between Judge Higgins and Judge Hatch. I became aware that Hatch had known family members, Jason Hatch, owner of Hatch Development Company, LLC.”
Solomon’s complaint further explains that the court is aware that all individuals have the right to be heard in a court of law and because he was not allowed this right, “This is why I’m filing in the United States District Court of Arizona so that I can be heard where a judge is not prejudiced against me and have all these individuals name(d) above held responsible.”
Solomon previously filed a complaint with the Board of Contractors in Navajo County against Jason Hatch for improper license to bid on a job, he said, stating, “his license did not cover and had no insurance.”
The new complaint alleges that, “the Board of Contractors ignored the complaint and never sanctioned Hatch Development, and instead allowed him to continue without proper license.”
The complaint concludes, “Exhibit B displays the facts in question; the Town of Taylor and Hatch Development used the plaintiff to complete their scheme because this all revolves around a trust and a lot of money that left the Town of Taylor into the hands of Jason Hatch and Hatch Development for services not performed. In fact the town of Taylor was made aware of all of these issues and let it continue.”
Town officials had no comment on the complaint because they are consulting with an attorney.
In a Sept. 15 interview, Solomon stated several times, “I broke no laws and I did not cause what happened to the Hunts’ home in July 2007.”
When asked if he would resign his seat on the town council, Solomon responded, “I still am an elected official. This happened before I was on the council,” and he will not resign.
“I would hope that this can be resolved as quickly as possible for the sake of everybody involved,” said Mayor Fay Hatch.
Mayor Hatch expressed his concern that in a year or so Taylor will have a council election, noting, “I hope this doesn’t scare anyone away with concern for running for town council.”
