Fort Worth approves 0K settlement in one whistleblower suit, .1M in legal fees for another

Fort Worth approves $850K settlement in one whistleblower suit, $1.1M in legal fees for another

Fort Worth Council members get ready on the dais for their Jan. 23 meeting at Fort Worth City Hall. (Sandra Sadek | Fort Worth Report)
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Fort Worth City Council members OK’d a $850,000 settlement April 9 to dismiss a whistleblower lawsuit filed by a former employee. 

Trisa Crutcher previously worked as a forensic scientist in the Fort Worth Police Department Crime Lab. Crutcher filed a 174-page whistleblower complaint in 2020, alleging a pattern of policy violations. She was fired from the department in 2021. The same year, the Texas Commission on Forensic Science affirmed policy violations had occurred, but concluded they didn’t rise to the level of misconduct. 

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Crutcher filed two lawsuits — one in 2020 and another in 2023 — claiming she was retaliated against for reporting the policy violations. The suits were then consolidated and went to mediation. The $850,000 settlement will be paid out from Fort Worth’s risk financing fund.

Fitzgerald lawsuit costs rise

Council members also voted 10-1 to pay Carter Arnett, PLLC an additional $1.1 million in legal fees as the city contests a lawsuit filed by former police chief Joel Fitzgerald. 

District 8 Council member Chris Nettles was the lone no vote.

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The lawsuit stems from Fitzgerald’s May 2019 firing. In a May 2019 termination letter, then-Assistant City Manager Jay Chapa said his firing was a result of an increasing lack of good judgment, inability to build relationships with other department heads and mismanaging his department’s budget. 

Fitzgerald filed a suit in June 2019, alleging his firing violated the Texas Whistleblower Act, the Texas Open Meetings Act, the Public Information Act and the Texas Constitution. He contested the city’s narrative about his firing, and instead suggested he was fired because he reported illegal practices by the city involving access to the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Systems database.

To date, the city has incurred $1.2 million in legal expenses from Carter Arnett, PLLC on the case. In a mayor and council communication, city officials said increasing the money approved to pay the law firm was necessary because of a trial delay. While the trial was initially set for January, the judge later postponed it until October.

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“Because the city has had to respond to Fitzgerald’s attorney’s numerous motions, challenge many discovery requests that have no real relevance to Fitzgerald’s claims, and will have to prepare for trial twice, the legal fees the City has incurred are beyond what would normally be expected in a one-plaintiff Whistleblower Act case,” officials wrote in the communication.

The city also will pay the legal fees from its risk financing fund.

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