Former Darby employee wins lawsuit against town

by Nathan Boddy

Terry Linton of Darby has had a tough couple of years, but with a unanimous ruling by a jury in the Ravalli County District Court last month, Linton finally feels vindicated. The jury found that the Town of Darby did terminate Linton’s employment without good cause, did violate a provision of its own written personnel policy, and slandered Linton’s reputation. Linton’s settlement in the case will amount to lost wages and fringe benefits, as well as a settlement of $75,000 on account of the jury’s finding of injurious slander by Darby Councilman, Bill De Spain.

The episode began for Linton in late January of 2021 when he was informed that he had been placed on leave without pay, and was under investigations for “abuse of leave, insubordination, lack of trust, dereliction of duties, and theft of taxpayer funds.” Those allegations were spelled out in a letter to Linton by then Darby Mayor, Matthew Locati. The letter also added the phrase, “when the investigation is concluded, there will be disciplinary action(s) taken.” While Linton was never included in a formal review or investigation, his employment was formally ended by Locati in February. In his termination letter, Linton was once again accused of “abuse of leave, insubordination, lack of trust, dereliction of duties, and theft of taxpayer funds.”

According to the lawsuit which Linton brought against the Town of Darby, the actions taken against him were on account of his absence from work following potential exposure to Covid-19. Linton admitted that, on two separate occasions, he did isolate after children of his had become symptomatic during the pandemic, first in the fall of 2020, and again in early 2021. However, his lawsuit expressed that the Town of Darby was subjecting him to contradictory and irrational requirements relating to his absence following Covid exposure, and was also accusing him of quarantining himself in such a way that it amounted to theft of taxpayer funds.

Dan Browder, who served as Linton’s attorney in the suit, says that the Town of Darby had no reason to use any quarantine or absence as grounds for termination, since Linton made up for his first absence, and used vacation time and sick leave to cover the second.

“The whole thing was preposterous,” said Browder. “If you’re going to make up this elaborate lie about being told to quarantine, why would you use your vacation leave for it?”

Browder says that the jury’s conclusion shows that the Town of Darby had used Linton’s absence and a false narrative about quarantine requirements as “a pretext to fire him.”

Procedurally, the Town of Darby was shown to have injured Linton by failing to follow its own written personnel policies. The first letter Linton received from Mayor Locati, for example, stated that disciplinary actions “would be taken,” regardless of the fact that the investigation had not yet occurred. Secondarily, Linton was not allowed access to any investigation into his own hearings, a fact that Browder says is a clear violation of the state constitution. Browder attended a grievance hearing with Linton, and expected a swift conclusion.

“Considering all the things they (the Town of Darby) did wrong, we assumed they would give him his job back,” said Browder. “But they didn’t. They doubled down at every stage.”  

One example Browder gave as the ‘doubling down’ came in the form of Councilor Bill De Spain’s comments to the Bitterroot Star in November of 2022. In that interview, De Spain says that he’d been at the meetings wherein, “Terry was basically fired,” and that “he was caught in multiple lies and he admitted it and there is no way that he can get out of it.” Those comments, along with the allegations made by Mayor Locati about Linton’s apparent theft of taxpayer funds, are the very points that the jury found to be slanderous.

“They did not care what they did to this man’s ability to make a living,” said Browder about the Town of Darby. Browder points out that Darby is a small community, and the last two years of carrying the accusations have been a heavy weight to bear for Linton.

“He’s a tough guy,” said Browder, but added that the reading of the verdict was still an emotional relief. It seemed to Browder that the opinion of the jurors was the vindication Linton had been looking for.

“The jury felt like he had been mistreated and slandered.”