A Buckraker and Her Attorney Clean Up Against WCSD

It looks like the Washoe County School District Board of Trustees may have to cough up, or rather approve an insurance settlement payout, to a former employee who resigned from the district years ago and filed a lawsuit in federal court.

I had a much better case than that woman did, but I could get nowhere in Nevada.

Snip:

The board will also vote on whether to pay Kathleen Nichols, who was reassigned to Human Resources in 2004, $250,000. Nichols was the executive assistant to then general council [sic--you'd think reporters would learn how to spell "counsel"] Jeff Blanck. Blanck was terminated and Nichols was transferred. She resigned from the district and filed a lawsuit against the district in federal court according to the school board agenda.

The law firm Maupin, Cox & LeGoy represented the district in the case. The federal court dismissed Nichols’ case on summary judgment. Outside legal feels cost the district $350,000 according to the agenda.

The school board agenda says that because this is a constitutional rights case, any liability found against the district would trigger attorney’s fees on behalf of the plaintiff. In March a federal court conducted a mandatory settlement conference and $250,000 was agreed by all parties.

The district’s excess coverage carrier, Genesis Insurance, will pay the $250,000.

Nice to know somebody whose case was relatively minor compared to my situation would be handsomely compensated, but that is because she had connections to the attorney who represented her. Her connections to him is why she sued, while his suit against WCSD was thrown out. Anybody who has a real case against WCSD is up against a brick wall and can't get anywhere thanks to not being told by Washoe Education Association about EEOC or other such avenues, not to mention the reluctance of most attorneys in Washoe County to even take on teacher lawsuits. Disgraceful. It's even more disgraceful being told by the state attorney general that there is nothing you can do against the union, either, for its negligence, for the same tiny window of six months SOL in filing a complaint applies to the public employee-management relations board as it does to EEOC. In short, the district and the bogus union can do whatever the hell they want to teachers, while the teachers become permanently impoverished when illegally fired. Yes, I will beat this dead horse until I die or the district makes it right, which it never will. The district needs to be outed as the corrupt organization that it is.

You can read the facts about the case here, and you don't have to pay for it. This document, which threw out the summary judgment request by the district, explains the background of the case.

Just think: If you have the right connections, you can cash in with a big settlement on something that is relatively minor (sitting in a public school board meeting next to the person you work for and was being fired and then being reassigned).