"Former Detroit CEO Turkia Mullin Subpoenaed to Testify"

Monday, November 14, 2011

Judge: Ousted Detroit airport CEO Turkia Awada Mullin must testify in
lawsuit
By Jim Schaefer and John Wisely
THE DETROIT (MI) FREE PRESS


A judge today ordered ousted Metro Airport CEO Turkia Awada Mullin to
testify in a lawsuit that accuses Wayne County of operating in secret when
it hired her.

Wayne Circuit Judge Robert Colombo signed a subpoena ordering Mullin to
appear Wednesday for the deposition. Robert Davis, the plaintiff in the
lawsuit, said Mullin was served with the subpoena at her Birmingham home
this afternoon.
 
Davis, a Highland Park school board member and a frequent litigant over open
meetings issues, sued the Wayne County Airport Authority last Thursday,
claiming it violated the state Open Meetings Act several times during the
hiring of Mullin.
 
He said the authority illegally formed a search committee, which operated
behind closed doors and posted no minutes.
 
Mullin was fired Oct. 31 from the airport post amid a scandal prompted by
the revelation that she received a $200,000 severance payment when she
voluntarily left her county job for the airport. That and other business
dealings in Wayne County prompted an ongoing FBI investigation.
 
Airport spokesman Mike Conway has said he couldn't comment on pending
litigation.
 
Larry Dubin, a law professor at the University of Detroit-Mercy, said it
"would be highly irregular" for the deposition to happen so quickly after
the suit was just filed and the Airport Authority hasn't even answered the
complaint.
 
"If you're going to take someone's deposition, then the other side has the
right to be notified and have his or her attorney present," Dubin said.
"Until there's a response, there's no way to know if the person has even
retained a lawyer."
 
Samuel Nouhan, an airport board member who led the search, said Monday
night, he had not been served with a subpoena.
 
"I'm not aware of what he's trying to do," Nouhan said.

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