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East Texas tow truck driver accuses Anderson Co. sheriff of interfering with business, alleges retaliation for failed relationship with sheriff's daughter

SOUTHEAST TEXAS RECORD

Sunday, December 22, 2024

East Texas tow truck driver accuses Anderson Co. sheriff of interfering with business, alleges retaliation for failed relationship with sheriff's daughter

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An East Texas sheriff is facing a lawsuit from a tow truck driver who alleges the former interfered with his business and disparaged his character, according to recent Tyler federal court records.

F. Lee Morris and his employer, Morris Wrecker Service, LLC, filed the suit against Anderson County and Sheriff Greg L. Taylor on July 19. The complaint accuses the county and Taylor of preventing the plaintiffs from doing business after Morris ended a romantic relationship with Taylor’s daughter.

The complainants show that they were registered with the defendants’ two rotation list until 2011 when the aforementioned relationship began. After the couple separated and Morris saw another woman, the suit explains, the county suspended Morris on allegations of price gouging with giving him the opportunity to present his case for redetermination.

Morris was reinstated, but later earned another suspension for allegedly failing to secure a bubble level during the course of an incident management tow, which the suit insists was “another wholly unsubstantiated allegation.” The respondents again neglected to allow Morris to plead his case before an adjudicative body, the original petition states.

Court documents further recount an incident earlier this year in which Morris reported to an accident scene only to be turned away by members of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office acting under orders by Taylor. Allegedly told to leave or be arrested, the plaintiff addressed the matter with the Internal Affairs Division of the Sheriff’s Office to no avail.

Aside from Taylor’s supposed refusal to place Morris back on the tow rotation list because of the latter’s failed relationship with his daughter, the complaint says that the defendants were ordered “to stop Morris at every chance they get.”

Consequently, the plaintiffs seek unspecified damages and a jury trial.

They are represented by attorneys James C. Mosser, Nicholas D. Mosser, and Paul J. Downey of the law firm Mosser Law PLLC in Plano.

Tyler Division of the Eastern District of Texas Case No. 6:16-CV-1027

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