Former Birmingham Water Works Board chair joins lawsuit against Central Alabama Water

Former Birmingham Water Works Board Chair Tereshia Huffman joined a lawsuit accusing Central Alabama Water and its leadership of mismanagement, lack of transparency and decisions plaintiffs believe could harm customers, employees and retirees.The original lawsuit was filed April 2 in Jefferson County Circuit Court by ratepayer Jim Hicks. An amended complaint filed May 27 added Huffman and retired water treatment manager and former board member Jonathan Harris as plaintiffs and expanded the case to include a proposed retiree class alongside the proposed ratepayer class in what could become a class action lawsuit.The lawsuit names Central Alabama Water CEO Jeffrey Thompson and several board members as defendants.What the lawsuit allegesAccording to the complaint, utility leaders: stopped major repairs on the Lake Purdy Dam in the middle of the project shut down the utility’s in-house water quality testing lab fired more than 200 employees in a single day ended water fluoridation without giving the state required notice abandoned infrastructure and software upgradesThe amended complaint also accuses the utility of violating Alabama’s financial transparency and reporting law. It also claims the layoffs changed pension assumptions in a way that could endanger the retirement trust fund. Plaintiffs also accuse leadership of misleading the public by making a credit rating update sound like good news, when the agency actually kept the utility’s lower financial rating in place and warned there were still risks.Huffman said her motivation has remained the same from the time she was on the board to the time she was removed because of the state takeover in May 2025.“I fought on the side as a board leader, and now I’m on the side of a ratepayer,” Huffman said, “but my interest and my concerns remain the same despite which side of the aisle I’m on.”She also said the focus should remain on the people affected by utility decisions.“For me, the right thing is making decisions that are in the best interests of the ratepayer when it comes to safe, reliable, affordable, quality water and also in the best interest of the employees, whether they are employees now or our retirees system,” she said.Attorney points to leadership decisionsAttorney John Somerville, who represents the plaintiffs, said the lawsuit centers on what he described as failures in oversight and maintenance.“Mr. Thompson was head of that department from 2019 to 2023,” he said. “It was his job, and we allege this. It was his job to actually make sure that the systems were functional and were getting the repair and maintenance that they should have gotten.”Somerville also sharply criticized current management.“We contend that is a symptom of the mismanagement, the misfeasance and malfeasance of this current manager team,” he said.Court fight moved quickly in late MayThe amended complaint set off a fast legal fight. After filing the amended complaint on May 27, plaintiffs argued the defendants’ earlier motion to dismiss the case no longer applied because the complaint had been replaced. They said they had the right to amend automatically because no defendant hadn’t answered the complaint yet.Defendants then asked the judge to strike the amended complaint and argued it was filed at the last minute and unfairly expanded the case just before a scheduled hearing. On May 29, Judge Monica Y. Agee denied that motion and allowed the amended complaint to stand. The same day, Agee also denied the defendants’ request to move the case out of Jefferson County after ruling it was too early in the suit to make that request. In that filing, defendants argued they could not get a fair trial in Jefferson County because so many residents are Central Alabama Water customers and could have a financial interest in the outcome.What happens nextThe case will stay in Jefferson County for now, and the expanded claims are still part of the lawsuit. The allegations have not been proven in court, and the case hasn’t been made a class action lawsuit yet. Central Alabama Water declined to comment and said it does not comment on pending legal matters.