Governor Bentley’s Attorney John Neiman Issues Statement in Response to Complaint filed by Ray Lewis

MONTGOMERY – Attorney John Neiman, who represents Governor Bentley, on Wednesday, released a statement regarding the complaint filed by Ray Lewis, the former Chief of Governor’s Security Detail. Neiman’s complete statement is below.

“Mr. Lewis’ lawsuit is an outrageous abuse of the system. The bulk of his complaint is full of allegations the Governor denies, and those allegations ultimately will be shown to be irresponsible and false. In addition, those allegations have nothing to do with the actual legal claims asserted by Mr. Lewis. He appears to have included those irrelevant allegations in his complaint for the purposes of sensationalizing what is a meritless legal case.

We will ask the Court to quickly dismiss Lewis’s legal claims, which are meritless through and through.

To understand why Lewis’ lawsuit is so outrageous, look to the series of articles that he claims to be the basis for it—one of which is  2014 al.com article where Mr. Lewis says Governor Bentley somehow ruined his reputation. That is a baseless claim by Lewis because Governor Bentley did not say negative things about Lewis in that series of articles. To the contrary, that one article in particular says Governor Bentley “praised” Lewis “as having worked to put together the best security detail and Capitol police force the state has ever had.” In that article Governor Bentley said that Lewis “is a man of honor and integrity and I support him one hundred percent.” In that article Governor Bentley called Lewis “the man for the job.” In light of those statements, it is indefensible for Lewis to now seek hundreds of thousands of dollars from the State and Governor Bentley on the theory that Governor Bentley somehow defamed him in that same series of articles.

Lewis’s claim that he was “constructively discharged” by Governor Bentley and lost money as a result of his work for the Governor is equally outrageous. Public records show that when Lewis worked for the state government, he made more than $661,615 over five years, based on the overtime he was paid. But he chose to quit. That was his choice—no one else’s. Public records show that as a result of his decision to quit, Lewis is now getting $87,387.60 per year in State retirement income, for life. But now he is trying to force the State to give him more money, and to go so far as to extract money from the pocket of a governor who has never even taken a salary since he took office.

The Governor’s legal team will tell the Court that Mr. Lewis’s allegations are irresponsible and wrong, and will pursue all appropriate remedies against this abusive lawsuit. We hope to have this lawsuit dismissed soon.”

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