Federal judge dismisses lobbyist’s claims against City of Atlanta and its former inspector general

Registered lobbyist and city contractor Bernie Tokarz’s civil rights complaint against former Atlanta Inspector General Shannon Manigault and the city was dismissed without prejudice by a federal judge on Monday. 

Federal judge Victoria M. Calvert granted motions to dismiss filed separately by Manigault and the city. The judge ruled that Tokarz failed to state a claim. 

Tokarz had requested to amend his complaint in May, but Calvert held that the request was improperly made. In the dismissal order, the Court gave Tokarz 21 days to file an amended complaint; otherwise, the action will be dismissed. 

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What is this lawsuit about?

In August 2024, Atlanta’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report detailing Tokarz’s failure to disclose his relationship with Post 2 At Large City Council Member Michael Julian Bond when submitting a bid for a security contract on behalf of his company, Cloverhurst Strategies, LLC, in 2022. According to the OIG report, Tokarz had previously served as Bond’s campaign manager. 

Cloverhurst was one of two bidders awarded the contract and received over $1 million in payments between 2022 and 2023, according to the city’s Open Checkbook. 

As part of the investigative process, the OIG issued a subpoena for Tokarz’s banking records on March 23, 2022. The subpoena included a request that the bank not notify Tokarz of the subpoena. Tokarz’s lawsuit alleged that this request violated his rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. 

In response to the OIG report, Tokarz’s attorney sent a letter to city officials calling the allegations “factually and legally frivolous.” 

Tokarz also argued that Manigault violated his First Amendment rights when she sent a letter to the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission (CFC)—the office charged with regulating lobbyists—in October 2024. 

Tokarz’s lawsuit alleged that Manigault issued the CFC letter in retaliation for his Sept. 3 response to the OIG investigation.

In that letter, Manigault identified campaign expenditures from the Committee to Re-Elect Michael Julian Bond, for which Tokarz was chair and the sole check signer. Those expenditures included payments from the campaign committee to another company owned by Tokarz, Howell Mill Communications, LLC. Manigault’s letter states that the expenditures were not itemized on Bond’s campaign finance disclosure reports. 

What the judge said

Tokarz’s lawsuit brought claims against Manigault both “individually and in her official capacity.” 

In Judge Calvert’s order dismissing the claims against Manigault, she found that Manigault was entitled to qualified immunity for her actions, because “she was acting within her discretionary authority when she issued subpoenas to financial institutions seeking to obtain Plaintiff’s bank records.” Qualified immunity protects government officials from civil claims brought against them in their individual capacities. 

Calvert also held that Manigault could not be sued in her official capacity, as she resigned from the position in February 2025 in response to attacks by the mayor’s office. The mayor appointed Manigault’s replacement, LaDawn Blackett, later that month. As the new inspector general, Blackett in her official capacity would be the proper defendant. 

Regarding Tokarz’s Fourth Amendment claim, Calvert held that “Plaintiff has no privacy right in bank records.” 

On the claim that Manigault filed the ethics complaint in retaliation for Tokarz speaking out against her, Calvert wrote, “[I]t is unclear whether this ethics filing was a retaliatory investigation or a formal complaint.” Ultimately, the judge said, it was irrelevant because the legal authority Tokarz relied upon for his retaliation argument did not support his First Amendment claim. 

In a response to Manigault’s motion to dismiss filed in May 2025, Tokarz added an additional argument for the First Amendment claim, saying the city had not renewed Cloverhurst’s security contract. However, the city council voted 9-2 to renew that contract in December 2024.