Ex-Detroit mayor sues over released text messages

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, fresh off his stint in jail, is suing telecommunications company SkyTel for releasing his text messages, the AM Law Daily reports. The company reportedly claims it did so appropriately under court order.

Kilpatrick alleges in his lawsuit that SkyTel violated privacy laws, specifically the Stored Communications Act, in releasing text messages during a civil proceeding, according to the paper. Text messages Kilpatrick exchanged with his onetime chief of staff were at the center of his downfall last year; the Detroit Free Press obtained and published a slew of texts apparently showing Kilpatrick and the staffer had an affair, despite their denials of it under oath. He eventually resigned and pleaded guilty to felony charges.