The lawsuit filed by former Idyllwild Water District (IWD) General Manager Michael Creighton seeking $578,476 in damages from the district settled out of court. The office of Creighton’s attorney, Charles P. Boylston, confirmed “that the matter has been resolved.”
The newspaper received a copy of the settlement from IWD through a public records request. It could not obtain a copy of the settlement from Boylston’s office.
PHOTO BY MELISSA DIAZ HERNANDEZ
The lawsuit settled for $30,000, “each side to bear its own attorneys’ fees and costs.”
The settlement amount will be split into two checks: “a check made out to Michael Creighton in the amount of twenty thousand and ten dollars ($20,010.00); and a check made out to the ‘Law Offices of Charles P. Boylston, APC’ in the amount of nine thousand nine hundred and ninety dollars ($9,990.00). Within five days of the receipt of the check for the settlement amount, counsel for plaintiff [Creighton] shall file with the court a request for dismissal with prejudice of the entire action.”
Creighton signed the agreement Dec. 15, 2020.
Creighton filed the wrongful termination lawsuit against IWD based on alleged violations of the California Government Code’s Fair Employment and Housing Act and the California Labor Code January of last year. The complaint set forth two causes of action, each alleging the IWD Board of Directors unlawfully terminated him from his general manager position in retaliation for actions he took in opposition to harassment of female coworkers. The lawsuit also alleged that some of the district’s board members violated the Brown Act.
Additionally, the lawsuit alleged Creighton “was terminated as a result of plaintiff’s opposition to unlawful practices engaged in by [Hosny] Shouman [chief financial officer], and the board with regard to perceived violations of the Brown Act.” It also alleged that if it were “not for the unlawful termination, plaintiff would have continued working at least four more years.”
Document courtesy of the Idyllwild Water District
The IWD board voted to terminate Creighton’s employment contract Sept. 25, 2019 in a special closed-session meeting.
Creighton, as reported by the Town Crier, worked for IWD in the late 1970s conducting wastewater testing and served on its board from 1983 to 1997.
