By Steve Plunkett
The town has offered to settle former Town Manager Dale Sugerman’s lawsuit out of court and is waiting for his answer.
“At this point, all I can tell you is a lawsuit is going on, but there’s always conversations in any lawsuit about can we settle the case or do we fight the case. That’s really where we’re at now,” Town Attorney Glen Torcivia said at the Town Commission’s Feb. 7 meeting.
Sugerman’s suit claims his February 2010 suspension and the subsequent non-renewal of his contract amounted to an “unlawful ouster.” It seeks damages in excess of $30,000 each from Highland Beach, Town Commissioner Doris Trinley, former Commissioner John Sorrelli and former Mayor Jim Newill, plus attorney’s fees and costs.
Torcivia convened private attorney-client sessions with the current mayor and commissioners on Jan. 4 and Jan. 31. Also sitting in was Lyman Reynolds, the town’s labor lawyer, and Town Manager Kathleen Weiser.
On Feb. 3, the town alerted the court that it had delivered a “proposal for settlement” to Sugerman, according to records at the county clerk’s
Dale Sugerman office.
That followed a mediator’s report Jan. 18 that “the parties have reached a total impasse,” the clerk’s records show.
And on Jan. 20, Judge Janis Brustares Keyser ordered Sugerman’s claim for attorney’s fees be stricken from the lawsuit, the records show.
The suit says Trinley, Sorrelli and Newill “led the charge” not to extend Sugerman’s employment when they learned he planned to suspend Town Clerk Beverly Brown without pay for emailing “White America” jokes at work on her official computer.
Sugerman contends his employment contract could be terminated by a commission vote or by himself, “but in no event could it not be renewed” so he is entitled to a year’s severance pay plus accrued vacation and sick time and 12 months of health insurance.
Before the suit was filed Oct. 3, Sugerman’s lawyer demanded Highland Beach pay its ex-manager $166,114 in severance, $31,567 for accrued time, health and medical benefits for a year and $12,100 for attorney’s fees.
“Moreover,” the letter said, “Dr. Sugerman requires a written public apology, approved by the Town Commission at a duly called meeting of the same, and clarification that he is not at fault for any wrongdoing in connection with his employment by the Town.”
Commissioners ordered Sugerman to leave Town Hall at their Feb. 1, 2010, meeting. In April, an independent hearing officer agreed with then-Town Attorney Tom Sliney that Brown should be punished with a written reprimand instead of Sugerman’s proposed unpaid suspension. Ú
Comments