Former Boise City Attorney Susan Mimura could use some good PR advice if not legal advice after filing a $500,000 claim against her former employer.
She has filed a tort claim, which is a precursor to a lawsuit, claiming loss of wages and damage to her reputation after the city council fired her in the midst of the scandal which ended up with former Mayor Brent Coles and two assistants doing jail time.
When you are the center of attention and everyone around you goes to jail, the smartest thing two years later is keep your finger off the rewind button. If the case goes to court, anything nasty the city missed the first time around is certain to come out. She needs to “f’getaboutit.”
Best of all, she alleges among other things, “deliberate indifference” on the part of the city. If deliberate indifference by the city was worth cash, the GUARDIAN would be on the Fortune 500 list!
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Aug 8, 2005, 4:30 pm
Anyone out there want to take wagers on this one?
I bet the city will cough up something otherwise why would she ask for so much.
Aug 11, 2005, 4:59 pm
I disgree. Susie was an at-will employee. She could be terminated with or without cause. Under the circumstances, I would have to agree with The Guardian: she would have been better off keeping quiet and leaving well enough alone. To you and me it sounds like she is asking for a lot of money, but put in perspective of her annual salary, which I seem to recall was well in excess of $100,000, I’m actually surprised that she didn’t add at least one more zero to her claim. I think Boise City’s taxpayers would be outraged if the City doesn’t fight this one to the end and ask the court to force Ms. Mimura to reimburse their attorneys’ fees once they win.
Aug 12, 2005, 6:31 am
I think they’ll fight it. A new Mayor and Council will not be able to answer the question of what was in the audit which resulted in the termination. Thus many old faces will necessarily be in the spotlight again (that can’t be fun). In an at-will environment, “no reason” is better than giving a reason which then evaporates as facts come out. May have been better left alone; surprised she didn’t ask for more; wouldn’t be surprised to see her win a judgement; the cost of defending the City will exceed what it costs to setttle; won’t be won for the City at summary judgement. Those are my predictions.