The first rule of law club is you do not mess with the billable hour.
That’s one takeaway after Millersville city attorney Bryant Kroll made a show of walking off the job when his clients voted to slash his pay.
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BREAKING: Controversial Millersville city attorney Bryant Kroll abruptly quits after new commission proposes cutting his fee from $200/hour to $15/hour. pic.twitter.com/snGRz3JR3i
— Phil Williams (@PhilNvestigates) December 18, 2024
“I’ll just add that the law has a term for this — it’s called breach of contract and inducement to breach of contract,” Kroll said after the proposed pay cut. “I’m going to go ahead and tender my resignation.”
Now, it’s worth noting that the city’s decision to cut $185/hour didn’t strike completely out of the blue. The town’s legal bills have “had tripled since Kroll was hired at the beginning of the year — from about $32,000 a year to $100,000” in part because the commission had never voted to approve the $200/hour fee.
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Williams and NewsChannel 5 have kept tabs on Kroll’s (mis)adventures for awhile now which involved what some might consider a plethora of conflicts.
He also represents Mayor Tommy Long, who faces accusations of misconduct in an ouster suit. Plus, he’s the personal attorney for Police Chief Bryan Morris and Assistant Police Chief Shawn Taylor, representing them in a lawsuit against the City of Ridgetop.
Until last night when a trio of new commissioners were sworn in, the city’s leadership boasted a far-right flavor resulting in the hiring of “QAnon-inspired conspiracy theorist” Taylor as assistant police chief. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation have raided both the Millersville police headquarters and Taylor’s personal residence. And Kroll didn’t just represent Taylor:
In addition, Kroll now admits he used his old law firm’s accounts to generate research reports that have fueled some of Shawn Taylor’s bizarre conspiracy theories — even as Kroll encouraged the Millersville Board of Commissioners not to hold a special meeting to investigate the city’s so-called conspiracy cop.
Gives new meaning to “.7 hours — Research” right?
Speaking of research, Kroll might have benefitted from a little more on the breach of contract claim he foreshadowed:
Yet, if he wants to claim that the board broke his contract, he may have made a tactical mistake.
“He should have waited until we passed the motion,” Darnall later said. “He quit, and the motion was withdrawn — so we never changed his pay.”
Oops.
Hints of drama, yet hope for future as new city commission takes reins in Millersville, Tennessee [NewsChannel 5]
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.