The Kansas City Council approved a $1.4 million settlement on Thursday that puts an end to all proceedings in the whistleblower lawsuit filed by the city’s former communications director, Chris Hernandez.
Hernandez won in court this spring when a jury determined that former Kansas City Manager Brian Platt sidelined Hernandez for being unwilling to stretch the truth. The jury ordered Kansas City to pay Hernandez $930,000 in damages.
But that left two outstanding issues. How much would the judge agree was a reasonable amount that the city would have to pay Hernandez’s attorneys for their time and trouble in waging the case since it was first filed in 2022?
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And would the city appeal the verdict?
Lawyers Erin Vernon and Lynne Bratcher filed a court motion asking for $1.05 million in legal fees on top of the jury award if they could not come to a settlement with the city for a lesser amount.
With little to no discussion, the council voted to accept the settlement, which reduces the amount that Vernon and Bratcher might have received. It also ends the possibility that the city could have wound up spending even more, should Kansas City have challenged the verdict and lost at the appeals court level.
But the vote was not unanimous and left Councilman Kevin O’Neill feeling uneasy.
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