He must not have been well liked in the unit...
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/20...dation_061808/
Portions of colonel’s lawsuit dismissed
By Holbrook Mohr - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jun 19, 2008 7:13:56 EDT
JACKSON, Miss. — A federal judge has dismissed portions of a lawsuit in which a former Mississippi Air National Guard colonel claimed other officers retaliated against him for revealing corruption in his refueling unit.
Retired Col. Joe H. “Jody” Bryant Jr. said more than a dozen current and former members of the 186th Air Refueling Wing in Meridian tried to intimidate him after he went public with concerns about racism, fraud and favoritism.
Bryant’s claims and his willingness in the past to talk about the allegations — including in a radio interview — prompted lawsuits that have dragged through state and federal courts for years.
The latest ruling comes in a lawsuit filed by Bryant in 2005, when he said members of the unit vandalized his cars, pilfered his computer bag and filed a slander lawsuit in retaliation.
The defendants denied the allegations.
One of the main issues in Bryant’s lawsuit was whether the defendants violated the federal Whistleblower Protection Act by filing the slander lawsuit over comments Bryant made during a radio interview in 2003.
U.S. District Judge Tom S. Lee ruled Monday that even if the motivation behind the slander lawsuit was retaliation against Bryant, the others had a First Amendment right to sue as long as their claims were not “objectively baseless.”
The slander lawsuit had already been thrown out of court.
One of Bryant’s attorneys declined to comment Wednesday.
The judge also dismissed other portions of Bryant’s whistle-blower lawsuit, including claims that the defendants cut the fuel line on his wife’s car.
“Judge Lee dismissed those because Bryant had no evidence to support any of those claims,” said Jackson attorney Mike Farrell, who represents some of the defendants.
Farrell said the dismissal reflects that his clients did nothing wrong.
“Their take on it was that Bryant was in line to be wing commander, was not selected and turned on people who had been his friends,” Farrell said.
Lee will allow two of Bryant’s claims to go to trial July 21, allegations that one of the defendants tried to get Bryant fired from his civilian pilot job with FedEx Corp. and that another man had threatened him.
Farrell acknowledges that his client, former Col. Robert Pierce, wrote a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration urging the agency to evaluate whether Bryant was mentally fit to fly.
Pierce, who is also a pilot, “was under a duty” to report concerns about whether Bryant presented a safety hazard, Farrell said.
The allegations of misconduct in the 186th, which Bryant said he first brought to the attention of Guard officials in 1998 and detailed in a letter signed by dozens of officers in 2000, included racial bigotry, records falsification and misuse of funds.
The military concluded in October 2004 that there were problems in the 186th, including findings that its leaders misrepresented training levels in order to qualify for an overseas mission for which the unit was not qualified.
Air National Guard officials said disciplinary actions were taken depending on the severity of the substantiated allegations. Citing personnel rules, officials have not identified any of the personnel involved. They said among disciplinary actions were letters of reprimand, counseling and dismissal.