Jeanerette’s city attorney has filed a lawsuit against Mayor Carol Bourgeois Jr. for allegedly withholding payments during the month of January. 

Lucretia Pecantte filed the suit Friday in the 16th Judicial District Court for damages rendered after not receiving her monthly invoice payment as a contractor for the town of Jeanerette. 

According to the lawsuit, Pecantte submitted an invoice on Dec. 26 to the city clerk, and e-mailed the clerk after still not having received her payment on Jan. 17. 

Pecantte alleged that the clerk did not explain why the payment had not been rendered. She then allegedly called the mayor and left a voicemail, and then texted the mayor and members of the Board of Aldermen about the issue. 

Pecantte had still not received an explanation or payment on the withheld payment up to the date that the lawsuit was filed, according to the suit. 

The document alleges that the mayor has “arbitrarily and capriciously withheld the plaintiff’s payment and have politically constructed an ordinarily simple process to a road block complicating the process in an attempt to avoid the issuance of the payment for the submitted invoice.”

The lawsuit asks for $50,000 for the sustained damages due to the withheld payment. 

Bourgeois said Monday that he had not been served the lawsuit yet, and added that he will continue his work to trying to move the city forward. 

“It is what it is,” he said.