WTH? How Metro Paid $2 Million for a $100,000 ‘Free Speech’ Case

Last March, the Metro Council rejected a settlement in the case of a firefighter who made inflamatory comments on Facebook. Now, they’ll pay far more

According to the Nashville Bannner, on March 7, 2024, the city’s attorneys brought to the Metro Council a $105,000 settlement offer for a federal lawsuit filed by Tracy Turner. The fire captain had been busted down to firefighter for some pretty gross comments he made on Facebook about Black protesters during the George Floyd protests.

Metro Legal Director Wally Dietz and Associate Director Allison Bussell were there to explain the deal and the three-year legal fight:

• The case had already essentially been tried in the form of a summary judgement motion and Metro had lost, with Judge Eli Richardson ruling for Turner across the board. Both Dietz and Bussell were clear-eyed that the city was likely to lose the entire case and be liable for substantial damages if it went to trial.

• The $105,000 would mainly come from the city’s judgements fund with $7,000 coming from the fire department.

• The city did not agree with Turner’s comments — including calling protesters “thugs” and “animals” — and believed it had a right to punish him, but social media law is still emerging.

• Fire Chief William Swann signed off on the settlement.

“We made our best case [in court] about what the impact was, because that’s what a government has to do: show that the speech impacted the operations of the government in an adverse way that could justify disciplining somebody who’s exercising their First Amendment rights,” Dietz told the Banner over the weekend. “We put that proof in. Judge Richardson said that other judges might disagree with him, that he did not believe that the balancing test ended up in our favor, and so he rejected our arguments.”

In short, the city’s attorneys knew the case was a loser and tried to tell their client that a trial would open Metro up to much more liability than the $105,000 they had negotiated. And what did Metro councilmembers do in response? They voted 31-0 (with three abstentions) to reject the settlement. Not a single councilmember listened to their lawyers. Dietz said this was the first time he could remember the council rejecting a settlement.

To read the full story visit The Nashville Banner.com