The defendant is a public official; his lawyers's bill is being footed by the taxpayers, but no one yet knows any details behind the settlement negotiations in a civil rights lawsuit filed by a former state employee against Attorney General Jay Nixon.
A seven-minute telephone conference was held this morning in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, but the minutes of that conference were sealed by Judge William Knox.
The only item mentioned in court records available to the public is that "case will be referred to Magistrate Maughmer for settlement negotiations."
The lawsuit has been largely ignored by the traditional media, despite the representation of Nixon by two taxpayer-financed attorneys from the attorney general's office, and the fact that there is enough to case to warrant discussing a settlement. Court records indicate Nixon is being represented by state attorneys Jim McAdams and Gail Vasterlin
Three months have passed since court documents were filed indicating that a settlement had been reached in attorney Marla Grothoff's action against Nixon.
As noted in the Nov. 6 Turner Report, the settlement, the details of which have not been made available, was arrived at that day following a session which was attended by Ms. Grothoff and her attorney Daniel Pingelton, Karen Mitchell, McAdams and Ms. Vasterling of the attorney general's office.
Ms. Grothoff served as an attorney for the Child Support Enforcement Division of the Division of Social Services from 1988 to 2003. When the decision was made to transfer the legal work for that division to the attorney general's office, most of the lawyers were transferred to the attorney general's office, according to Ms. Grothoff's petition, which was originally filed in Boone County Circuit Court, but not Ms. Grothoff.
In her lawsuit, Ms. Grothoff claimed she was discriminated against because she is a quadriplegic with limited use of her hands.
The attorney general denied Ms. Grothoff's claims.
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