Enterprise, former city prosecutor sued

An Enterprise woman has filed a lawsuit against the City of Enterprise and its former city prosecutor.

Sherry McCormick filed the lawsuit in Coffee County Circuit Court Nov. 21 charging “invasion of privacy, fraud and misrepresentation, negligent entrustment and supervision, vicarious liability, defamation and slander,” by the City of Enterprise, Josh Pipkin and his wife, Katie.

McCormick charges that on or about Nov. 28, 2012, Pipkin contacted her by text message using court records from the City of Enterprise, where he then held the position of municipal prosecutor. “The improper use of these private records by (Pipkin) caused (McCormick) to be placed in a false and defamatory position in the public eye.”

McCormick charges further that on or about Nov. 28, 2012, Pipkin used the internet social networking application called “Face Book” to locate her and to “willfully deceive” her into believing that he was concerned about her pending case in municipal court. Through electronic text message, Pipkin conveyed to McCormick that he was the only person in the legal system she could trust and that he would help her in exchange for nude photos of herself, according to the lawsuit.

McCormick charges the City of Enterprise with “vicarious liability,” citing the fact that Pipkin was, at the time, employed as the Enterprise municipal prosecutor. “The City breached a duty owed to their citizen by not properly overseeing their employee in accessing information from a City legal file for a wrongful purpose while in the scope of his service or employment.’

Pipkin’s wife is charged in the lawsuit with defamation, slander and libel because she went to The Southeast Sun May 26, 2014 to claim that the text messages sent to McCormick from her husband’s phone were in fact texted by her. “This was in direct contradiction of her husband’s verification that on the night in question she was in fact out of town visiting family,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit further charges Katie Pipkin with libel in connection with an affidavit to the Alabama State Bar Association “denying the actions which took place and in an attempt to protect her husband’s political aspirations, this affidavit was submitted June 9, 2014, with the knowledge that it was false,” the lawsuit says.

Josh Pipkin is also charged with libel in submitting his response to the Alabama State Bar Association in denying his actions in texting McCormick. ‘He submitted this written statement with the full knowledge that it was a false statement to the Alabama State Bar.”

The lawsuit asks the court for an unnamed amount of “compensatory and punitive damage plus costs” to be awarded to McCormick.