Harassment lawsuit, one of three against Beaufort Co’s auditor, moved to federal court
A lawsuit against Beaufort County Auditor Jim Beckert alleging harassment and verbal abuse of a female former county official has been transferred to federal court, and he has hired a Charleston attorney to defend him.
This week, the lawsuit filed by former county chief financial officer Alicia Holland against Beckert was moved to the U.S. District Court of South Carolina from Beaufort County’s Court of Common Pleas.
This is due to Holland’s claim that Beckert and Beaufort County deprived her of her federal rights protected by the U.S. Constitution, according to court filings.
Holland’s suit — one of three lawsuits filed against Beckert in the past two months — accuses Beckert, an elected official, of harassing, bullying and lying about Holland for years to the point where she became physically sick and resigned from her job.
Holland is also suing the county for failing to provide her with a safe and non-hostile work environment “despite its longstanding knowledge and recognition that Beckert has systematically, for years, harassed and intimidated County employees.”
Court filings show that Beckert called for the case to be moved to federal court due to Holland’s claim that Beckert deprived her “of constitutional rights secured by the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America.”
Beckert is being represented by Charleston-based attorneys Jonathan J. Anderson and Jonathan L. Anderson from Anderson Reynolds & Stephens — a firm that specializes in civil litigation defense for “businesses, corporations, insurance carriers and government entities.”
Beckert faces other legal problems.
Three weeks before Holland filed suit against the county auditor, County Treasurer Maria Walls sued him for stalking, harassing and secretly recording her over multiple years. The suit also accused Beckert of making inappropriate comments about her pregnancy.
On Sept. 18, Beaufort County sued Beckert for allegedly refusing to put a new user fee on Hilton Head property owners’ tax bills.
In the wake of the suits, Beaufort County moved Beckert out of his office — which was previously in the same building as Walls’ office — to “preserve the rights of all individuals involved in current lawsuits as they make their way through the courts.”
