Posted on 04/05/2003 12:22:58 PM PST by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
Acting against advice from their chief attorney, state university system officials have offered a $49,000 settlement to the wife of a key state lawmaker after a former community college administrator made a racially offensive reference to her.
Zelda Williams, who is black, is expected to collect $49,000 from the Community College of Southern Nevada to settle a legal complaint she filed against the state's public higher education system following the use of a racial epithet in August 2001 by Mike Meyer, a top-ranking community college official who eventually resigned over the incident.
At one point, Meyer was the college's interim president.
Zelda Williams is the wife of Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, chairman of the Assembly Education Committee. The committee proposes and reviews legislation that deals with the state's public school systems and higher education.
The payment could be made during the current legislative session, as lawmakers consider raising taxes in part to help cover soaring education costs.
Community College of Southern Nevada President Ron Remington said Friday he hopes the settlement quickly will be paid to Zelda Williams.
"I'm happy to bring this to closure," Remington said about the settlement that was agreed upon last week by University and Community College System of Nevada Chancellor Jane Nichols. "It is a large amount of money, but it's important to show that we do the right thing."
Remington said the college will use student revenues from such sources as bookstore and vending sales to cover the vast majority of the settlement. Remington said he did not feel any greater pressure to settle the case because it involved the wife of an important lawmaker in the ongoing session of the Nevada Legislature.
Remington and Nichols moved quickly to settle the case and disregarded advice from university system chief attorney Tom Ray and a tort claims administrator with the state attorney general's office. According to a letter from Ray to Remington and Nichols, the tort claims administrator said an offer of $5,000 should be made to Zelda Williams.
"In our opinion, an offer in excess of $5,000 should not be extended at this stage of the litigation," Ray said in the March 10 letter.
Nichols did not return phone calls Friday.
The Board of Regents, the state's elected higher education governing board, is not required to approve the settlement. The offer comes just under the $50,000 threshold that would have required approval by the state Board of Examiners. The Board of Examiners publicly discusses proposed legal settlements that come before the appointed panel for a vote.
In August 2001, Zelda Williams was within earshot of Meyer when he made the offensive remark to a colleague who was about to meet with the lawmaker's wife to advise her on college matters. While waiting for her meeting with college lobbyist John Cummings, prospective student Zelda Williams overheard Meyer remark in reference to Cummings' meeting with her, "She's a nigger, and niggers are never on time." Days later, Meyer publicly apologized, called the remark a stupid mistake and resigned under pressure from Remington and others.
Months later, attorney Richard Segerblom, representing Zelda Williams, filed a federal lawsuit against the community college and Meyer, seeking $1.5 million in damages for emotional distress and negligent oversight of an employee. That lawsuit was dismissed last year, but Segerblom filed a second similar complaint in District Court.
In his letter, Ray pointed out a summary judgment could come in the District Court case, stopping it from going to trial. "We have not had the opportunity to conduct any discovery that would inform us whether Mrs. Williams ever saw a health care professional or received treatment for the alleged emotional distress," Ray said.
Ray, whose office handles multiple harassment and discrimination complaints at any given time, said Meyer's remark was "probably extreme and outrageous" but likely would fail other legal tests. "As he (Meyer) did not know she was within earshot and did not intend the remark to be overheard, it probably was not intended to cause emotional distress and was not said with reckless disregard as to the probability that it would cause her severe emotional distress," Ray said in the letter.
Remington said the $49,000 settlement was agreed to in part to send the message to the community that the college has an inclusive environment that supports the state's most diverse population of college students.
Wendell Williams, who did not return a phone call Friday, has said previously that his wife had a right to seek damages for the hardships she endured. Wendell Williams has said he did not see any potential conflict of interest in the possibility of his wife collecting damages from a college that has its funding determined every two years by the Legislature.
For about a year, the possibility of a settlement has been on the table. But previous offers were too small for Zelda Williams, Segerblom said.
"She wasn't just going to roll over and say, 'Oh, poor university system. I'll just accept $1,000,' " Segerblom said.
The $49,000 settlement agreement shows the university system recognized Zelda Williams' complaint was more than a nuisance complaint, Segerblom said. "I think it is reasonable in all senses," he said.
As a state government agency, the University and Community College System of Nevada is protected by a $50,000 cap in damages in District Court civil cases. Meyer also could have been under the protection of the $50,000 cap, because the university system agreed to defend him.
Mark Ghan, the staff attorney defending the university system in the Zelda Williams case, did not return a phone call seeking comment Friday.
In May 2002, Ghan said he argued that the federal case should be dismissed in part because of rulings in similar cases elsewhere. "The uttering of a racial slur on one occasion does not give rise to a federal cause of action," he said. "It does not violate your constitutional rights, although it may be reprehensible."
In late 2001, Ray said that if the college acted promptly to address the problem then it would be more difficult for Zelda Williams to win her case. The college did act promptly in this case, Ray said.
On Friday, Segerblom said the university system faced the possibility of high outside legal fees in its defense of Meyer if the case went to trial. "It was going to cost them more to defend this thing than to settle it," Segerblom said.
The only lesson in this is the old one - sue the people with the deep pockets - not likely an unemployed ex-official is going to be able to pay anything at all.
He says there is no conflict of interest because his wife has a right to sue. On the other hand Nevada is a common property state and whatever his wife gets goes straight into his pockets!
There have been other elected officials prosecuted for less in federal court.
Now if somebody had said these two were "thieves", there'd be nothing to sue about now would there?
Man, that's the best question I've heard in months! Academia is it's own little world of PC/leftwing filth.
The words...GIMME GIMME GIMME, come to mind.
WTFF? Someone called her a n----r and she didn't slap him silly? That's what I would do, never mind the money.
I don't think I'd call this a "trivial incident".
Meyer's attitude and comments were certainly inappropriate for someone who was in his administrative position with the university. There is no doubt that he deserved immediate dismissal with loss of all pay and benefits.
That said, I don't see where Williams is entitled to any financial compensation for this offense. I have to agree that, in this instance, the lawsuit only serves to aggravate racial tensions.
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