By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The city has agreed to pay $30,000 to former jailer Noah Shepard to settle a lawsuit he filed last year against the city and former police Lt. Lance Ewers.
“It’s good to get another one of these three cases behind us,” City Attorney Brian Hanson said.
The city last year settled a lawsuit filed by officer Ryan Silva against the police department, chief and the city. A lawsuit filed by former officer Mary Ferguson against the same three parties is set for trial in June.
The Notice of Acceptance of Offer of Judgment in Shepard’s lawsuit was filed Monday in Sitka Superior Court. The final judgment was signed today by Superior Court Judge Jude Pate.
Shepard was a jail officer from 2013 to 2019, including time training to be an officer. After leaving the department, he filed a lawsuit alleging breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and slander and defamation. He charged that the “hostile work environment” in the department caused him to resign, and that Ewers “defamed and slandered” him.
Hanson said the city’s offer of judgment to settle the case is not an admission of liability. He noted that if Shepard and his attorneys had not accepted the offer, and if the case had gone to trial and resulted in a damage award to Shepard of less than $30,000, Shepard may have been liable for attorney fees to the City and Borough of Sitka.
Shepard said today he’s not happy with the conclusion of the case.
“I felt forced into the settlement,” he said. He referred to the court rule that could have resulted in his being liable for attorney fees.
Shepard said he did not sue for money, but for an investigation into the management of the police department, and for employees to have a chance to speak out about what they see as problems in the department. Neither of those things happened as a result of his lawsuit, which he said is disappointing.
“I attempted to get those things addressed before bringing a lawsuit,” he said. When his requests to talk to supervisors at the department and city were ignored, he filed the suit, he said.
“If there was an investigation and they made reasonable changes to prevent the abuses going on, I would’ve dropped the lawsuit,” he said. “My suggestions seemed reasonable, and if they happened we would have a better department, a better city.”
He said he’s confident he would have prevailed in court, but added, “I can’t afford to make my family bankrupt. ... Now I’ve got a big fat check I don’t want.”
Shepard said he planned to meet with an accountant to try to find a way to give the money back to the city, since he knows the city has many needs. “It’s my neighbors’ money – this does not help get better electrical infrastructure or more teachers, that the city needs.”
(Hanson said the city’s insurance carrier covered the cost of the lawsuit.)
Shepard was represented by James Davis of the Northern Justice Project, the law firm representing Ferguson and Silva.
The city was represented by outside counsel Michael Gatti from Jermain Dunnagan & Owens.
