Pealer And Her Mother Reinstated at UCDD, Federal Lawsuit Settled

The Upper Cumberland Development District has reinstated two employees who were recently let go from their jobs and has reached a settlement agreement with one of them in her federal lawsuit against the agency
Ashley Pealer and her mother Kathy reportedly returned to work earlier this week.
Ashley Pealer filed the lawsuit against the UCDD; the man who fired her, Randy Williams, who was UCDD’s interim executive director at the time; and Mike Gannon, chairman of the UCDD board. Pealer claimed her personal cell phone messages and Facebook account were hacked, a violation of her Constitutional rights.
Pealer was represented by W. Gary Blackburn of Nashville.
Allegations involved violations of the Stored Communications Act and the Wiretap Act, allegedly committed by Williams and Gannon.
Pealer claimed that after she was fired, her cell phone, issued to her by UCDD, was taken from her; that some three hundred pages of her private text messages, which were stored through Verizon, were accessed by the defendants, printed and published to various persons. Pealer alleged that at least one of the defendants used her private password to invade and access her Facebook account as well. The Defendants also allegedly intercepted a private email communication to Pealer’s Facebook account, according to the lawsuit.
Pealer claimed the purpose and intent of this behavior was to embarrass and intimidate her in retaliation for her refusal to participate in or remain silent about the illegal behavior of former UCDD Executive Director Wendy Askins, and to determine the extent to which she (Pealer) was involved in disclosing illegal conduct to the news media.
Board members seeking reinstatement of Pealer and her mother finally received the necessary votes to forward that recommendation on to UCDD’s new executive director Mark Farley.