The Michigan State Court of Appeals has upheld court decisions against the City of Wayne stemming from a suit filed against former Councilman Anthony Miller. The city lawsuit claimed Miller breached his fiduciary responsibility to the city when he provided a hostile work environment assessment report to Michigan State Police as part of a separate criminal investigation.
To date, Third Circuit Court Judge Sheila Gibson has found in favor of Miller on every issue and has awarded more than $90,000 in legal fees to the Rasor Law Firm which represents Miller.
Gibson ruled, and the appeals judges affirmed, that the confidentiality of the hostile workplace assessment report was removed during a council meeting the day prior to the entire report being posted on the city website. The report was removed after about 15 minutes, but multiple downloads of the document had already occurred. Gibson also ruled the city litigation was filed outside the statute of limitations.
In a separate action, Miller is claiming discrimination by city officials and is demanding redress under the Elliott Larsen Act which prohibits discrimination based on race, religion or sexual orientation. The city argument is that Miller, as an elected official, was not a city employee and therefore not afforded those protections.
Miller’s attorney, James Rasor, strongly disagrees with the city argument noting that the city “ruthlessly attacked” Miller and he is entitled to the same protections as “usual employees.” Should the appeals court find in Miller’s favor in this claim, it could establish a legal precedent for other elected officials, Rasor said.
The crux of the city claim is a 2018 independent report that dealt with the conduct of former City Manager Lisa Nocerini and concluded that she should be disciplined up to and including termination. The city lawsuit alleged that the report was a confidential work product.
The judge dismissed the claims of the city noting that the statute of limitations had expired before the suit was filed and that the city allegation that the report was ever confidential was disproven by a video tape of a city council meeting in which the posting of the report on the city website was discussed and approved by officials.
According to Rasor, in addition to the $90,000 in legal fees, the judge may impose “sanctions” on the city. That means, Rasor said, the judge could decide to levy some punishment against the city for “acting in bad faith.” The bad faith,” Rasor explained, “would be the proof presented during the trial that city officials knew the report was not confidential before the lawsuit was filed.”
Miller, who was appointed to the city council in December of 2015 and re-elected twice, resigned his position in June of 2021 during the COVID pandemic and moved out of state. While he said he was hesitant to make any comment on the current situation, he said his treatment by other city officials was a factor in his resignation.
The investigative report concerning the conduct of Nocerini has also been accepted as evidence in three separate ongoing legal proceedings. Resident Mark Blackwell is charging Nocerini and Police Chief Ryan Strong with violations of his civil rights. He claims Nocerini motivated Strong to falsely arrest him for speaking out at public meetings regarding the findings in the report. Nocerini claimed that Blackwell was stalking her by speaking to other residents in the city hall parking lot following council meetings and driving behind her on Wayne Road.
Blackwell was found not guilty of all those allegations and he is now pursuing legal redress from the city based on violations of his civil rights.
In a separate lawsuit, Wayne police Ofc. Abrahan Hughes also claims Nocerini interfered with the police chief selection process by insisting Blackwell be arrested. He alleges he refused to make the arrest and claims that despite higher test scores, Strong was promoted to the chief’s job after arresting Blackwell.
Those cases continue to proceed in court.
