The two sides in a federal whistle-blower lawsuit against the Maine Center for Disease Control will talk settlement next week.
Such settlement conferences are routine in civil lawsuits. The two sides are expected to tell a judge what they want, or would be willing to give, in order to avoid a trial.
Their proposals, filed with the court this week, are confidential.
But the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Cynthia Dill, said Tuesday that “as a general thumbnail sketch” she will make the case for a settlement of at least $500,000 each for her two clients, plus attorney’s fees and lost benefits. She declined to name the precise dollar amount.
“I’m reluctant to put a figure out in public because I don’t want to do anything that would somehow jeopardize a negotiation or taint a negotiation,” she said.
However, Dill was clear that her clients — former CDC division director Sharon Leahy-Lind and CDC office manager Katie Woodbury — are interested in settling.
“The case is very strong, the facts are very compelling, the plaintiffs are very credible, there’s already been a lot of legwork demonstrating highly suspicious acts and malfeasance, so it’s a case that really should settle instead of spending more years and more sums of money,” she said.
Lawyer Eric Uhl, who represents the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and its CDC, declined to comment on the settlement proposals or the upcoming conference, saying it is department policy not to comment on ongoing litigation.
The lawyers for the other defendants — CDC Director Sheila Pinette, Deputy Director Christine Zukas and Office of Minority Health and Health Equity Director Lisa Sockabasin — did not return phone calls or emails seeking comment.
Leahy-Lind resigned as director of the Division of Local Public Health in July 2013, saying her bosses made it impossible for her to do her job. She filed a federal whistle-blower lawsuit against the department and Pinette in October 2013, alleging that Pinette and others within the department retaliated against her when she refused to destroy documents related to the funding of the Healthy Maine Partnerships program. She also alleged defamation and rights violations.
Last September, a judge allowed Woodbury to join the suit as a plaintiff and added Zukas and Sockabasin as defendants. Woodbury’s claims are similar to Leahy-Lind’s, including harassment and retaliation for speaking publicly about problems at the CDC.
The trial is scheduled for September. Dill said her clients would like to avoid that. One reason: She believes a settlement would likely cost Maine taxpayers less than a trial and the payment of a verdict.
“Substantial public resources have already been expended on defending these state actors because there’s private defense counsel,” Dill said, “and a better use of public money would be compensating courageous public servants who brought to light public corruption and were severely damaged as a result.”
Leahy-Lind’s health is also a factor. She has been diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer and is receiving treatment in Boston.
“She wants to move on. She feels like she’s done a service at great sacrifice,” Dill said. “She lost her career, now she’s lost her health. She’d like to resolve the case and get on with her life.”
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