Former city attorney signs, gets $750,000

Deirdre Newman

Former City Atty. Jerry Scheer has signed a second settlement

agreement between himself, the city and five defendants, culminating

a lengthy effort to settle his lawsuit.

Scheer was the last of the parties to sign the agreement, which

carries a payout to him of $750,000. In addition to the city, the

defendants are former Councilwomen Linda Dixon and Karen Robinson,

Mayor Gary Monahan, Councilwoman Libby Cowan and Senior Deputy City

Atty. Marianne Milligan.

The lawsuit charged the defendants with 16 complaints including

slander, defamation, retaliation and violation of the Brown Act Open

Meeting law. The lawsuit was based on a series of events starting in

July 2001 when Milligan, then known as Marianne Reger, made a written

complaint against Scheer containing a number of accusations. Scheer

was cleared of those allegations by an independent counsel and

investigator, but his troubles with the city persisted.

In September of 2002, he was put on administrative leave, pending

an investigation. He was reinstated that October and returned to work

but couldn’t fulfill his responsibilities since he wasn’t able to log

onto his computer, according to the lawsuit. He chose to take sick

leave on Oct. 21. He filed his lawsuit in September.

Monahan said he was relieved the settlement had finally been

agreed to by all parties.

“It’s just nice to get it finally behind us,” Monahan said. “We

can move on with the important business of running the city.”

Scheer refused to comment, as he has done since he filed the

lawsuit.

His attorney, Dan Stormer, could not be reached for comment.

Peter Brown, an attorney representing the city, said Scheer signed

the agreement in February. The agreement is now contingent on the

Workers Compensation Appeals Board approving a document called a

“Compromise and Release,” which is basically a workers’ compensation

settlement agreement, Brown said. He expressed confidence that there

wouldn’t be any more roadblocks in the process.

“At this point, it’s pretty much just going through the motions,”

Brown said. “I don’t expect any problems with the remaining

procedural steps.”

The second settlement agreement was necessary because the first

one fizzled when Milligan refused to sign it. She said doing so would

have prevented her from filing claims against the city or Scheer in

the future. Scheer refiled his complaint against the defendants in

mid-December.

Robinson and Dixon didn’t have to sign either agreement because of

an arrangement worked out by Brown and Stormer in November. This deal

removed the two former councilwomen as defendants from the lawsuit in

exchange for letters from them waiving their claims against Scheer.