A motion filed by attorneys representing the city of Memphis that made allegations of abuse and demands for payment between the family of Tire Nichols and the mother of Nichols’ child was expunged from the court record over the weekend.

Attorneys representing RowVaughn Wells, Nichols’ mother, in a $550 million civil lawsuit against the city denounced the filing in a statement on Saturday. On Sunday, they filed a series of motions asking the court to seal aspects of the city’s file, saying city attorneys acted in bad faith to “poison the jury against Mr. Nichols and his family.”

“The allegations range from misleading to completely false,” Wells’ attorneys said in the filing. “More importantly, none of them have anything to do with the claims or defenses in this case. Any of them, had they been included in the City’s answer to plaintiff’s complaint, would have been subject to a Rule 12(f) motion to strike as “immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter.” But each is an explosive and tantalizing claim about the personal lives of the parties in one of this city’s most important lawsuits in decades, and as such each was guaranteed to do one thing: lead the press to repeat the same claims. . in the Memphis media market”.

Several parts of the filing from Wells’ attorneys that appear to contain the city’s allegations have been redacted.

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The filing asks the court to “enter an order admonishing” the city and attorneys for filing the charges as they did. It also asks the court to allow a jury questionnaire to ask jurors if they knew about the charges.

The city’s claims stemmed from statements with a family Nichols befriended in California, along with the mother of his child.

According to the city, the mother, Morgan Jackson, said Nichols was abusive and was arrested in 2017. California court records confirmed an arrest took place, and Nichols was charged with first degree murder and misdemeanor battery.

Nichols pleaded no contest and the misdemeanor charge was ultimately dismissed. The felony, causing bodily harm, appeared to be reduced to a misdemeanor, and Nichols was given probation and a court-ordered domestic violence class.

“…The citizens of Memphis should be ashamed that their resources are being wasted on slander and nonsense,” Wells’ legal team said in a statement Monday. “There should be no place in the practice of law for attempting to use court records and then the media as tools for the unworthy defense and character assassination of victims of the outrageous conduct of government employees who are supposed to serve the public. pleased to see that the defense file has been removed from the court portal. The city has failed in its veiled attempt to suggest that the events of years ago had some basis in his murder, and that therefore Tire deserved to die.”

A separate filing requests that all references to the mother of Nichols’ child remain sealed, an attempt that Wells’ attorneys argue would protect both the mother and the child, as well as prevent prejudicial claims from entering the court record.

According to the city’s motion, Wells’ attorneys offered Jackson $400,000 to relinquish her oversight of Nichols’ estate. He also alleged that the lawyers offered money to a family with whom Nichols was close in exchange for not publicly discussing Nichols’ family relationships.

Wells’ legal team, in their statement on Saturday, compared the allegations to “guerrilla warfare”. In their filing Sunday, they said the information contained in the city’s “unopposed housekeeping motion” was unnecessary.

“Indeed, plaintiff’s request for a protective order does not even challenge the city’s subpoena to the child’s mother,” Wells’ attorneys said in the filing. “The court should not be taken for a fool. The city has misappropriated the court record for a highly improper purpose.”

This article originally appeared on the Memphis Commercial Appeal: The Tire Nichols family is requesting some civil records be sealed to prevent harm