Pretrail hearing set for McGuire v NCQC

By Staff, 07/16/18 10:51 AM

PRESCOTT – A pretrial date of Aug. 1 has been set in the case of Donnie and Nicky McGuire and M&M Wrecker Service vs. the Nevada County Quorum Court, et al.

According to court documents, Ralph Ohm, the attorney for the quorum court members, has asked for a summary judgement from the court stating the case should be dismissed without prejudice and award the Justice of the Peace all other just and proper relief to which they may be entitled.

The case stems from the county buying a road grader from the McGuires for $122,000. JP George Smith looked into the situation and found they’d bought the grader for $97,000. In the May 9, 2017, meeting of the NCQC he suggested the court be better in the future about doing due diligence so it doesn’t overpay for equipment.

At no time during the meeting did Smith or any other member of the court mention where the grader was bought, nor whom it was bought from. However, Donnie McGuire stood up and announced the court was talking about him and alleged it was hurting his business.

Following the meeting, McGuire filed suit against the individual members of the court – Dennis Pruitt, Willie Wilson, Ryan Harvey, Curtis Lee Johnson, Bob Cummins, Herbert Coleman, Kenneth Bailey, George Smith and Brenda Stockton. He also filed a separate suit against Smith, claiming Smith had misstated the truth and lied to a local newspaper about the transaction, as well as lying about his intentions and actions concerning the grader. McGuire’s suit against Smith also claims Smith made defamatory statements and lies about them causing damage to their reputation in the community.

Court records show the plaintiffs found out the county needed a grader, found one from a third party and contacted Nevada County Judge Mark Glass about buying it. Glass told them he was interested and bought the grader for $122,000. The plaintiffs state they’re in the business of buying and selling heavy equipment for a profit, and admit to buying this particular grader for $97,000 from a company in Magnolia, and selling it for $122,000 for a profit of roughly $25,000.

Ohm’s document states Smith discussed the county’s lack of due diligence at the meeting in question when it came to spending money, read a prepared statement questioning the county’s spending methods and moved to limit the amount the judge could spend without court approval. This was initially set at $20,000, but later increased to $50,000.

According to the documents, at no time did Smith identify the plaintiffs by name or mention their business, but it was one of the plaintiffs, Donnie McGuire, who spoke up and identified his business as the one in question.

According to the summary judgement standards, a summary judgement “shall be rendered forth with if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, shows there is no genuine issue as to the material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgement as a matter of law on the issues specifically set forth in the motion.

Ohm states these criteria have been met and a summary judgement should be issued with the case being dismissed.