EUNICE, N.M. (AP) - The previous administration of a southeastern New Mexico city is suing the current administration for libel and slander.
The Hobbs News-Sun reports former Eunice mayor J. Matt White and former city manager Martin Moore last week filed the lawsuit in state district court against Mayor Billy Hobbs, City Manager Jordan Yutzy and others.
Court documents claim the officials communicated falsehoods maliciously to defame White and Moore.
Hobbs and Yutzy did not immediately return phone messages.
Last year, Yutzy told the News-Sun the city would be seeking reimbursement of more than $34,000 for repair of the house that had been damaged in a sewer back-up situation while it had been unoccupied around June 2015.
Tree roots apparently had plugged the sewer line and had not been removed by city workers before significant damage occurred.
White lost reelection in 2018 to Hobbs and is now city manager of Jal.
Moore resigned from Eunice and began employment as a city manager in upstate New York in October 2018.
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