Former Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis Jr. may be out of office, but his legal woes continue.
An attempt to stall a judgment against him with an appeal has resulted in him not being able to sell his house or settle his divorce case.
In May 2022, the Augusta Press sued Davis over his refusal to abide by the Open Records Act and release receipts pertaining to campaign funds being scrutinized by the Georgia Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission.
Under oath with GTCFC, Davis claimed the campaign spending was associated with his regular duties as mayor, which makes the receipts public information.
However, in the case of The Augusta Press v. Hardie Davis Jr., Mayor of Augusta, Davis told Superior Court Judge Danny Craig the exact opposite, according to court documents. Davis claimed the spending had nothing to do with his duties as mayor and therefore the receipts were not covered under the open records law.
Craig decided in favor of the plaintiff and ordered Davis to provide the receipts.
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Craig also ordered Davis to pay $4,206.05 of the plaintiff’s legal bills and issued a civil judgment against him for $1,000.
Davis immediately appealed; meanwhile the plaintiff’s attorney, David Hudson, asked the court to issue writs of Fieri Facias, which, in effect, places a lien against Davis’ real property until the matter is resolved, according to Georgia Code § 15-9-62.
The court complied with the request and the FiFa lien was placed against Davis’ private residence, which is also a part of another legal matter: Davis’ divorce.
With the FiFa in place, Davis and his soon to be ex-wife Evett cannot sell the home and Davis cannot “quit claim” his ownership of the property to her, even if she is granted the marital home in the settlement unless she assumes the debt.
According to Joe Edge, publisher of The Augusta Press, Hudson offered Davis the opportunity to use some other form of collateral, but the former mayor claims he has no assets.
Davis could even allow his wages to be garnished to fulfill the two FiFa writs, but he is currently unemployed.
Edge says he has little sympathy for Davis.
“For too long these politicians and office holders have considered it a cost of doing business to violate the law and get a ‘slap on the wrist’ penalty and then they forward the cost onto the taxpayers. That won’t happen here. This is a judgment against him personally,” Edge said.
Davis has billed the city of Augusta roughly $40,000 in legal bills over multiple cases in which he is accused of violating the Open Records Act.
According to Edge, it is time for politicians to understand there will be punitive consequences for acting outside of the law.
“That is the mission of The Augusta Press. We are here to hold these people accountable, and no amount of stalling will stop us or slow us down,” Edge said.
By stalling, Edge says Davis is only driving up the bill that he will eventually be forced to pay. A FiFa writ means the sheriff will seize property if necessary.
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Davis’ attorney, former State Senator Ed Tarver, has filed a motion with the court to have the FiFa removed on a technicality.
Tarver claims in the latest filing that in one writ, Davis is referred to as “mayor of Augusta” and in the other writ he is referred to as an “individual,” meaning the language could be construed as to be referring to two separate people.
Local attorney Jeff Peil, who is not involved in this case, says that Davis will likely have a difficult time canceling the FiFa writs since they are based on a judgment.
“In my experience and practice, the standard there is very high. It’s tough to attack a writ if you are not attacking the judgment itself,” Peil said.
Davis could not be reached for comment.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
