On December 4, 2023, former City of Sparks Fire Chief Mark Lawson representatives Hutchinson & Steffen Attorneys sent the City a Fourth Demand Letter requesting a final settlement of $600,000.
“This sum will compensate Mr. Lawson for the economic and reputational damages that the City and Mr. Krutz inflicted upon Mr. Lawson. As you are aware, this lawsuit was filed because Mr. Krutz—acting far beyond the scope of his duties as the City Manager—defamed Mr. Lawson on YouTube. Specifically, Mr. Krutz made the decision to film and publish a video accusing Mr. Lawson of egregious criminality. This video was published days before Mr. Lawson was charged with any crime,” the Fourth Demand Letter states.
After Mark Lawson’s short tenure with the City in fall of 2022 before he was dismissed, Lawson’s attorneys sent the City a demand letter in January 2023 requesting a $441,218 settlement for wrongful termination. When the City rejected the settlement offer, Lawson filed a civil action suit against the City.
“Mr. Lawson has incurred significant attorney fees and costs prosecuting his case. For instance, the City chose to file an anti-SLAPP special motion to dismiss Mr. Lawson’s lawsuit on the ground that Mr. Krutz’s misconduct was protected by the First Amendment. In a thorough and precise order, the district court summarily disagreed with the City’s analysis and concluded that Mr. Lawson’s lawsuit should not be dismissed. After the City lost this motion, it decided to appeal the district court’s order to the Nevada Supreme Court. Now the case is assigned to the Nevada Supreme Court’s Mandatory Settlement Program and Mr. Lawson has undertaken good faith efforts to try to settle with the City and Mr. Krutz,” the Fourth Demand Letter states.
It then published the email exchange between former Sparks City Manager Neil Krutz and Assistant City Manager Alyson McCormick in which Krutz considered and subsequently posted a YouTube video alluding to Mark Lawson’s “serious criminal charges” against him before Lawson was actually charged with anything.
The City of Sparks Agenda Item Brief regarding the topic states that if the City Council accepted the settlement demand, then the minimum it would pay would be half that ($300,000) which is City’s self-insured retention amount to compensate for these claims.
Sparks resident Bill Wagner submitted a public comment to the City Council, asking them not to pay Lawson the $600k settlement he was requesting.
“Just pay him what he earned during his short term as fire chief. Our hardworking taxpayers do not need the SCC to spend this large amount of wasteful money,” he stated in his email.
In a very short discussion, the Sparks City Council unanimously voted to reject Lawson’s fourth settlement offer and his lawyer’s subsequently responded with this statement:
“We are disappointed the City of Sparks and Mr. Kurtz have foolishly refused, yet again, to negotiate a reasonable resolution to the pending litigation.
“Each time the City rejects our client’s offer to reach a reasonable settlement, they drive the costs of litigation up at great expense to the City of Sparks taxpayers. These legal expenses could have been avoided if the City had not breached the contract it had with Mr. Lawson and if Mr. Krutz and the City had not committed egregious defamatory acts that harmed and continue to harm Mr. Lawson’s reputation and ability to find gainful employment.
“Despite the City’s and Mr. Krutz’s unlawful behavior and unwise decisions related thereto, our client will focus his attention on preparing to participate in good faith at the court-ordered mediation scheduled for the end of the month.”
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