Kevin Palmer v. John Adams, Jim Reinhold, City of McCleary
Published: Sep. 9, 2000 | Result Date: Jun. 6, 2000 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: 992006999 Verdict – $0
Judge
Court
Grays Harbor Superior
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Defendant
Experts
Plaintiff
Stephen C. Klein
(medical)
Defendant
David A. Cooper
(technical)
Facts
The plaintiff, a 31-year-old police officer with the City of McCleary, was discharged during his probationary period. The plaintiff contended that he was discharged after the chief of police, defendant Jim Reinhold, learned of an incident on Oct. 10, 1998, in which the plaintiff had made rude and disrespectful comments about Reinhold, the department and the city to a fellow officer. These comments were made inside of the police department while plaintiff was on duty. The plaintiff claimed that the fellow officer reported these incident, who then discharged the plaintiff after first discussing the matter with the mayor and the city administrator. The plaintiff alleged that the comments were intended to be confidential and that the real reason for his discharge was he assisted in a criminal investigation that was going on with respect to certain activities of mayor. The defendants contended that the plaintiff's cooperation in the criminal investigation had nothing to do with his discharge. All city employees participated in the investigation, including other probationary and terminable at-will employees and that plaintiff's involvement in the investigation was relatively inconsequential.
Settlement Discussions
The plaintiff demanded $1.1 million. The defendants offered $5,000.
Specials in Evidence
$390
Length
four days
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