High Springs settles Popoli’s lawsuit for $117,000

HIGH SPRINGS – A lawsuit brought against the City of High Springs by a former employee about a year ago has reached a conclusion.

Former High Springs City Planner Christian Popoli will receive $117,000 from the city’s insurance company, Public Risk Insurance Agency, as a result of a unanimous vote by commissioners to settle a wrongful termination of employment case out-of-court. The case had been brought by Popoli against the city in September 2012. The decision to settle was made formally near the end of the regular commission meeting on Thursday, Sept. 12.

The settlement comes after a year during which time the insurance company lost their bid to have the case dismissed and subsequent mediation ended with no resolution between the two parties.

Popoli’s original suit alleges he was terminated as a result of “blowing the whistle” on unlawful activities and the failure of the city to produce public records for Popoli and his attorney. An amended complaint, filed last June, alleged further violations of the Florida Whistle-blower’s Act and public records laws by the city and listed specific instances in which his attorney said he had been subjected to intimidation tactics. The amended complaint also requested compensatory damages, reasonable front pay, lost wages and benefits, including, but not limited to compensatory time and other remuneration, and attorneys fees and costs pursuant to Florida law.

“Before filing suit, Popoli offered to settle for $146,000 plus attorney’s fees, which at that time were approximately $2,000,” said Popoli’s attorney, Linda Rice Chapman. “Had they settled the case at that time, the city would have saved all of the fees and costs involved in defending Popoli’s claims,” she said. “The insurance company’s attorney’s fees are being recovered through increased insurance premiums presently and in the future.”

By the time the final negotiation began last month, Popoli’s attorney fees had skyrocketed to $214,000, which did not include $10,000 to $15,000 more in telephone calls and emails required to finalize the negotiation.

“Most of these fees can be attributed to the city’s failure to provide records and the extensive discovery requested of Mr. Popoli by the city’s insurance counsel,” Chapman said.

“We firmly believe the insurance company decided to settle after 16 months of arguing back and forth when they received the discovery documents we prepared explaining who we would call to testify and what they would say on the stand. At that point, they may have realized there was a good chance they would lose the case and would have to pay significantly more than $117,000 to Mr. Popoli.” Despite being crippled by a lack of resources, Chapman said she continued with the case for as long as she did because she has a very strong sense of right and wrong.

“My belief from the beginning has been that Christian was most definitely wronged in this case,” she said. “This is a man who was a model employee. His performance was so exemplary that the city honored him by selecting him as ‘Employee of the Year’ in 2008. Witnesses, including respected citizens, city employees and all of the city managers he worked under were lining up to testify for him. If the city didn’t finally agree with us, why would they pay us $117,000 to go away?”

The commission vote was the final step required to approve the settlement.

As to why the city decided to settle the case, Mayor Sue Weller said, “Speaking for myself, I voted to settle the Popoli case because we knew there was liability on at least one issue,” she said, referring to the claims of public records violations, “and in my experience with employment cases, jury trials are usually more sympathetic to the employee. If we had gone to trial and lost, the city could have ended up paying a lot more than the amount being paid by the insurance company.”

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