A complaint and demand for a jury trial has been filed in Ravalli County District Court by former Darby Public Works Director Terry Linton against the Town of Darby and former Mayor Matthew Locati, claiming wrongful discharge along with allegations of libel, slander, and deceit.
The lawsuit, filed on September 29 of this year, has apparently gone largely undiscussed by the current Town Council and administration. The town’s current mayor, Ruth Lendrum, told the Bitterroot Star last week that she was aware of the issue but could not discuss pending litigation. Town Council member Tammie Jones, who has been on the council since last August, said that she had remembered seeing a memo once about the lawsuit but did not believe that the council had discussed it. She said she was not aware of any details concerning the case and did not know why exactly the lawsuit had been filed.
Council member Bill De Spain, however, said he was aware of the lawsuit and was also at the meetings “where Terry was basically fired.” He said, “If Terry had simply come in and said there were charges brought against him and that he agreed with some of them but did not agree with all of them, but if you guys would give me another 120 days and keep an eye on me, I’ll do everything the mayor asks me to do, then I think he would still be employed. But he was caught in multiple lies and he admitted it and there is no way that he can get out of it.”
De Spain also mentioned that when Linton appeared at the meeting with an attorney the attorney was not allowed to speak. He said there was a rule in the Town’s charter where a person can have support present on their side, but that person cannot speak. He said when the attorney tried to speak, “I read off that section to him in our charter and he got very quiet. He understood it.” De Spain said that at the time, current Council President McKinney tried to make an exception to that and allow him to speak on behalf of his client. “At that point I said, why do we even have a charter?”
Former Mayor Matthew Locati did not return phone calls seeking comment on the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, the circumstances leading up to Linton’s termination involved his absence from work due to potential exposure to COVID-19 among his family members. The lawsuit alleges that Linton was subjected to continually changing demands for various forms of verification about his or his family member’s status relating to COVID and was fired for contradictory and irrational reasons.
It states in the lawsuit that on January 29, 2021, Linton found a letter addressed to him on Lenny Beiler’s chair in the Public Works office. The letter was signed by Locati on Town of Darby letterhead and dated January 29, 2021.
The full text of the letter follows:
“This letter is to provide you notice of the investigation of your actions with relation to abuse of leave, insubordination, lack of trust, dereliction of duties, and theft of taxpayer funds, currently underway by my office as the Mayor of the Town of Darby. You are hereby immediately placed on administrative leave without pay pending the outcome of the investigation. Furthermore, understand when the investigation is concluded, there will be disciplinary action(s) taken.”
It states in the lawsuit that, “as ordered, Terry did not report to work and heard nothing more from Locati or any other Darby representative until the morning of Monday, February 8, 2021, when Terry went to the Darby clerk’s office to get his paycheck, while he was still on what Locati called ‘unpaid administrative leave.’”
The Town Clerk informed Linton that his paycheck would not be released to him until he made an appointment with Locati. At around noon on February 8, 2021, he met with Locati who handed him a termination letter dated February 5, 2021, his final paycheck, and a payout of his annual leave and sick leave. The termination letter, on Town of Darby letterhead, claimed that Linton’s termination was effective February 5, 2021, and again accused Linton of “abuse of leave, insubordination, lack of trust, dereliction of duties, and theft of taxpayer funds.”
Linton’s attorney Dan Browder claims in the lawsuit that the statements in the letter are demonstrably false and have no factual basis and that Locati and Darby were or should have been aware that the statements were false. He also claims that no real investigation was ever conducted.
Browder also argues that the Policy Manual gave Linton the right to be “included in the investigative process and allowed to share [his] account of the suspected violation or misconduct in question before discipline is issued.”
“Terry was never afforded such opportunity,” he writes. “Locati determined, in advance and in clear and direct violation of Darby’s Policy Manual, that Terry would be disciplined before an investigation was conducted.”
Despite the fact that the Termination Letter stated that Linton’s termination was purportedly effective February 5, 2021, Browder claims Terry was never paid for the period from January 29 to February 8, 2021, when Locati handed him the termination letter.
“Terry was therefore either terminated or constructively terminated on January 29, 2021, when Darby ceased paying him,” wrote Browder.
Linton filed a first step grievance in February and received a response from Locati on March 4. According to the lawsuit, in its response Locati/Darby “knowingly misrepresented…clearly ascertainable facts” and that the statements in the letter were “slanderous, malicious, and deliberately calculated to cause Terry distress and harm.”
In his letter Linton stated “the Mayor insinuated that I had lied about my COVID quarantine, and claimed that I ‘betrayed the trust of Town Hall and the trust of our citizens, and have committed no less than theft of taxpayer funds and abuse of leave.’ I strenuously deny these outrageous allegations.”
Linton claims that if there had been any real investigation, it would show that he acted in the most appropriate and safe manner under the circumstances.
Locati responded to the grievance in a letter dated March 4, stating, “Your due process rights were not violated because you were told of the issue before any action by me was taken, and shortly after you had been informed by me, you arrived unannounced at my doorstep that weekend to try and convince me of your side of the story and how you didn’t want me to think you were lying, and that you had erroneously made ‘assumptions’ relating to your COVID-19 quarantine claims. The 6 days you took off with pay due to your lies is absolutely theft of taxpayer funds and abuse of leave.”
Attorney Dan Browder submitted a Step 2 grievance letter on behalf of Linton on March 18 stating that the town’s response to Terry’s first grievance letter was written by and signed by Mayor Locati, the person who fired Terry and the person against whom the grievance was directed. Yet Darby’s Policy Manual expressly states: “If the grievance is against the Mayor, the employee will file with the Council/Town Attorney. (MMIA suggests using a third party—city attorney or outside attorney rather than involving the City Council in Personnel matters).”
In this case, Browder argues, “the Mayor has acted as supervisor, investigator, judge, jury, and for the grievance, also even the court of appeal. Clearly Mayor Locati is not the right person to objectively evaluate this matter, and his doing so violated the Darby Policies quoted above and the policies discussed below.”
Attorney for the Town of Darby, Benjamin Burns, from Kalispell, responded to the grievance letter, noting that Linton had not yet exhausted the Town’s administrative grievance procedures and as such has not been deprived of due process. He states that the grievance is being forwarded to the City Council for an independent review. He states, “the Council will conduct an independent review and may either accept all or part of the Mayor and/or their designee’s recommendations or reject the recommendations and formulate their own resolution to the disputed issue.”
Burns also defends Locati and the Town’s actions and states that in his opinion Linton’s conduct would qualify as violations of “employee conduct/behavior/performance standards that would permit potential disciplinary action. Likewise, the Town at its discretion may choose termination as a disciplinary action.”
One problem with Burns’ reply, according to Browder, is that it contained two letters that were attached purporting to be the January 29, 2021 letter giving Linton notice of Locati’s “investigation” and the termination letter. Browder notes that neither of the documents attached to Burns’ response letter are the actual documents that Locati/Darby sent to Linton.
The one letter written and signed by the mayor under a Darby letterhead on January 29, that Linton received giving him notice of being under investigation and stating: “Furthermore, understand when the investigation is concluded, there will be disciplinary action(s) taken,” had been replaced with a letter also on the Town’s letterhead and signed by the Mayor on January 29 with a timeline/summary of Linton’s activities added and a different conclusion: “By signing below you agree the above actions were taken by you and I; and in the sequence and times as recorded. Furthermore you understand when my investigation is concluded there may be disciplinary action(s) taken.”
Browder states in his lawsuit, “Presenting false documents in support of Terry’s termination is another instance of false, malicious, deceitful, and slanderous conduct by Locati and other Defendants.”
Browder maintains that Linton was fired for no good cause and was effectively fired when the town quit paying him; that he was fired in retaliation for following public health guidance and that the reasons proffered were “false, arbitrary, capricious and pretextual.”
Charges of slander and per se slander allege that by charging Linton with crimes in their writings, the defendants tended to directly injure Terry in respect to his office, profession, trade, and business. Damages claimed include loss of his job, denial of unemployment, other economic damages, harm to his professional reputation, harm to his standing in his community, emotional distress, and the expense of hiring legal counsel to clear his name.
The deceit charges have to do with the letters that were attached to Burns’ reply to the grievance. The lawsuit accuses one or more of the defendants of having tampered with public records.
The charge alleges that one or more of the defendants “willfully presented false documents to Linton, to the Town Attorney, and to the Town Council, and that the statements in the purported letters were presented as facts of Darby’s prior communication to Linton, but the statements were not true and that the defendants knew or should have known that the documents were false and the statements within them were not true.”
The lawsuit seeks punitive damages against Locati who is being sued individually as well as in his capacity as Mayor, claiming that Locati exhibited a reckless or callous disregard for Linton’s rights, that Locati’s conduct was precipitated by actual malice, that he had notice of the facts that contradicted his false statements and claims, and that he deliberately acted in conscious or intentional disregard of the facts, causing a high probability of injury to Linton.
Linton seeks a jury trial and award of damages, punitive damages and attorney’s fees and costs.