Robinson
Anniston resident Curtis Ray in February filed suit in Calhoun County Circuit Court because of incendiary comments about "black corruption" Robinson made following the mayor's 2008 election.
The day after his election win, Robinson said he paid Ray $1,700 and newly-elected Anniston Board of Education member William Hutchings $950 to pass out marked sample ballots at polling places and to "assist people to the door."
"I bought into the black corruption in Anniston," Robinson told The Star the day after his election. "And it worked."
Robinson also told The Star that day that people approached him in 2004 and 2008 offering to deliver the black vote, "for a price."
He later apologized for his comments directly to local Southern Christian Leadership Conference members and through a full-page ad in The Star.
Ray has said Robinson did pay him to help get votes, but that the practice is not corrupt or illegal.
His suit asks for $250,000 for the alleged slander. He asks for another $250,000 because he says Robinson committed the tort of outrage in saying that Ray is part of Anniston's black corruption.
Calhoun County Circuit Judge Brian Howell dismissed the outrage claim, writing in his order that the circumstances don't satisfy its requirements.
Howell ruled that the slander part of the suit can move forward because "there exists a set of circumstances by which the plaintiff could present a case."
Ray on Tuesday said he didn't know about the judge's ruling, but said he is pleased.
"It's time for the justice system to do the right thing," he said. "God is still in charge."
Robinson said that although the judge didn't dismiss the entire claim, he believes the justice system will work fairly and he'll prevail.
"We'll let it run its course," he said.
A trial date hasn't been set, according to online court records.
Howell on Friday also dismissed a suit against Robinson filed by Councilman Ben Little.
That suit, for outrage and assault, stemmed from a January screaming match between the two men.
Little says he'll appeal Howell's ruling.
