CHANUTE — Neosho County commissioners agreed to settle a civil lawsuit with a Fort Scott law firm over an estimated $15,000 in unpaid legal fees for former County Attorney Linus Thuston, according to The Chanute Tribune.
The Reynolds Law Firm, P.A., of Fort Scott represented Thuston beginning in 2017 in regard to disciplinary complaints. In the fall of 2021, the county stopped authorizing payment to the Fort Scott law firm, despite work it continued to do in representing Thuston.
The law firm said the county owed it more than $22,500, though some of the charges were for Thuston’s private practice, the Tribune reported.
After meeting with their attorney Bret Heim of Iola, commissioners voted 3-0 to approve a settlement of $15,000.
Thuston retired as county attorney late last summer after being charged with two misdemeanors for misusing a county credit card and falsifying the purchase price of a vehicle to avoid paying sales tax.
He now faces six felony charges for perjury and witness intimidation concerning a trial where Thuston appeared as a witness in an opioid drug case.
