Whistle Blower Trial
Brown and Nelthorpe filed a whistle blower lawsuit against Kilpatrick and the City of Detroit. Former Detroit Chief of Staff Christine Beatty's text messages were subpoenaed. The trial was held from August 20 - September 11, 2007. Kilpatrick and Beatty testified under oath that they did not have any romantic or sexual relationship, and they did not fire Brown or Nelthorpe in retribution for their investigations.
During the trial, Gary Brown requested the text messages from Kilpatrick and Beatty's phones, but was told that the messages were misplaced. However, Brown and Nelthorpe won their case, and were awarded $6.5 million dollars plus interest in a settlement with the City of Detroit.
Later, Brown's attorney, Michael Stefani, received the "lost" text messages, and used them to obtain attorney fees. When City of Detroit attorneys realized the content of the text messages in November 2007, a new settlement agreement and general release was drafted. Brown's team was to turn over all original records and copies of text messages between Kilpatrick and Beatty that were obtained after the completion of the trial, and heavy sanctions were specified for breach of confidentiality in the settlement. The settlement amount was upped to $8.4 million. On December 5, 2007, Kilpatrick, Beatty, and all other parties signed the settlement agreement. Kilpatrick and Beatty signed as individuals, not officials of the city. Gary Brown's lawyer, Michael Stefani, signed a confidentiality agreement.
Read more about this topic: Kilpatrick And Beatty Text-messaging Scandal
Famous quotes containing the words whistle and/or trial:
“Discourse on virtue and they pass by in droves, whistle and dance the shimmy, and you’ve got an audience.”
—Diogenes of Sinope (c. 410–320 B.C.)
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—Edward C. Banfield (b. 1916)