Legal battle ends for fired court official

Dan Kulin

Thursday, May 22, 2003 | 9:32 a.m.

An almost 10-year legal battle waged by a wrongly fired former North Las Vegas court administrator ended Wednesday, when the City Council approved a $702,500 settlement for the case that included key rulings by the state Supreme Court and federal appeals court.

The council voted 5-0 to pay $452,500 to Georgia Nunez's state retirement account and to pay Nunez an additional $250,000. The payment to Nunez's retirement account is based on how much Nunez would have accrued in that account if she had not been fired in October 1993 and instead continued to work as court administrator.

Nunez could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but her attorney, Sharon Green, said the settlement is a welcome end to a long ordeal.

"In a settlement you always get less than you thought you would if you went to trial ... But if we go to trial and there are issues brought on appeal, it would be another three years before Georgia sees any money. This woman can't wait forever," Green said.

Nunez, who had worked for the court for 22 years, sued the city and former North Las Vegas Municipal Judge Gary Davis in December 1993.

Davis said he fired Nunez because he had lost confidence in her. But Nunez claimed she was fired because she allowed two court employees who had refused to support Davis' re-election campaign to attend a training seminar. Nunez also accused Davis of requiring court employees to work on his re-election campaigns, coercing her and other court employees to loan him money, allowing defendants to make contributions to charities instead of paying fines to the city and selling antiques out of the courthouse.

In September 1997 a federal jury ruled in favor of Nunez and awarded her $141,446 in back pay.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the award in March 1999, but Nunez didn't receive any money from Davis because he was unable to pay the award.

The state Commission on Judicial Discipline removed Davis, who had been a judge for 16 years, from the bench in December 1995. The commission cited many of the complaints Nunez had made against Davis in its written decision.

Nunez's lawsuit against the city was originally dismissed in federal court, so she then sued the city in state District Court. That case was dismissed when a judge ruled that a 1993 state Supreme Court ruling held that Municipal Courts were a part of the state system, not local governments.

But in June 2000 the state Supreme Court said its 1993 decision was wrong and ruled Nunez could sue the city for her wrongful termination.

Since then North Las Vegas has unsuccessfully tried to end the case twice. City Attorney Sean McGowan said the city argued Nunez's award should be limited to the $141,446 the federal jury awarded her, that Nunez was an at-will employee and that Nunez's award should be limited to the $50,000 ceiling on tort claims.

Nunez's suit had asked for $1.8 million, McGowan said.

Councilman William Robinson, the only city elected official on the council at the time of Nunez's firing, said the settlement was the best way out of a bad situation.

"If it had gone to court, it would have been millions. It was proven she was misfired," Robinson said. "It was the best deal we could get at this juncture. This was the cheapest way out of it."