Mullin demands retraction, new lawsuit could be in the works

DETROIT (WXYZ) - One of the Wayne County Commissioners may have more legal trouble heading his way – this time it’s from Turkia Mullin. Mullin is formally demanding a retraction from Bernard Parker which means a lawsuit could be in the works. 

This all stems from Bernard Parker’s role on the Airport Authority Board, and Turkia Mullin’s firing from her job as Airport CEO. 

Mullin’s lawyer has sent Parker a letter – demanding a retraction from Parker. And the letter could be a precursor to a defamation lawsuit.

Mullin’s attorney, Ray Sterling, sent the demand for retraction to Parker last month. Sterling says he has confirmed at least two cases of defamation – one of those allegedly occurred on 7 Action News during a live interview with Parker. 

Sterling says that during the interview, Bernard Parker “stated that Mullin engaged in conduct that constituted ‘cause’ under her Airport employment contract,” and the contract defines cause as dishonesty, theft, and willful misconduct, among other things. Sterling says there’s no evidence Mullin engaged in illegal conduct.

News of this retraction demand comes a day after Parker was named in former Wayne County Deputy CEO Azzam Elder’s whistleblower lawsuit.  Elder is accusing Parker of misusing his office on behalf of his son.

The lawsuit says that county vendors told Elder that they felt harassed by the commissioner’s son “to engage in some type of scheme…,” but the nature of the scheme is not clear from the lawsuit.

Parker says Elder’s allegations are false and unfounded.  As for the letter from Turkia Mullin’s lawyer – Parker tells 7 Action News that what he said about Mullin was the truth.