FAYETTE COUNTY, Tenn. — A Bolivar City Councilman is now in more legal trouble.
Jonathan Joy, who also owns a heating and air conditioning company, is being sued by a Fayette County man who said joy never followed through on his work.
Joy was supposed to be in court Tuesday morning to address the lawsuit, but he never showed.
The man who filed the lawsuit didn’t want to be identified as he sat patiently waiting in Fayette County civil court waiting to confront Joy.
“He was contracted to do the heating and air for my whole house,” he said. “It was two three-tons and one four-ton.”
He’s suing Joy and Joy Heating and Air because he claims Joy didn’t install the agreed upon HVAC units at his home, which is still under construction in Fayette County.
He said Joy installed HVAC units that were a smaller tonnage than he paid for, forcing him to hire a new contractor to fix a multitude of problems that followed.
“Mr. Joy was paid by checks,” he said. “Throughout the whole process, he was giving me invoices, and I paid him, according to the invoices.”
He said he was aware Joy had been indicted in Hardeman County for overcharging the county $1,600 for HVAC units he installed in several county buildings.
“I just simply told him, I said, ‘Mr. Joy, please, whatever happened in Hardeman County is Hardeman County, but please do my house according to as discussed,'” he said.
But he said Joy didn’t live up to his part of the bargain. Tuesday morning, when it came time for Judge Jim Gallagher to hear the lawsuit against Joy, he was nowhere to be seen.
It turns out, Joy learned WREG was inside the courtroom covering the lawsuit, and he decided not to appear.
The judge then ruled in favor of the home owner to the tune of $19,000.
We don’t know where Joy disappeared to, but his picture still hangs along side other Bolivar City Council members.
“I just pray for the residents of the City of Bolivar, that you have an elected official that continues to do customers and clients the way that he has done me,” the man said.
Joy has 10 days to appeal the judge’s decision on the lawsuit. He’s scheduled to be in Hardeman County court on Sept. 19 regarding his indictment there.