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SOUTHEAST TEXAS RECORD

Monday, March 18, 2024

Ex-Angelina Co. deputy tax clerk files suit following termination over FB post

Wrongful term 11

LUFKIN – A former deputy clerk in the Angelina County Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office asserts that she was wrongfully terminated over a social media post and has filed a lawsuit against the county and former Tax Assessor-Collector Thelma Sherman.

In court papers filed Sept. 26 in the Lufkin Division of the Eastern District of Texas, Lisha Hammock explains that she previously ran for Angelina County Tax Assessor-Collector last year and created a Facebook page for her campaign.

During her personal time, the suit says, Hammock posted a status stating that “changes need to be made” in the tax assessor-collector’s office. The plaintiff adds that Sherman told her to delete it though county policy dictates that county employees are allowed to “engage in political activity during their personal time.”

“Sherman terminated Hammock as a result, and she admits it,” the original petition says.

Hammock, who was employed by the office for more than five years, alleges that the defendants infringed on her First Amendment rights.

Consequently, she seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.

Attorneys Melissa Moore and Curt Hesse of the law firm Moore & Associates in Houston are representing Hammock.

Lufkin Division of the Eastern District of Texas Case No. 9:16-CV-0155

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