Fort Worth approves spending additional $1.1 million to fight ex-police chief’s lawsuit
The Fort Worth City Council voted 10-1 on Tuesday to spend an additional $1.1 million fighting a lawsuit in Dallas County against former police chief Joel Fitzgerald.
The approval raises the amount Fort Worth could spend on the lawsuit to $2 million.
Councilmember Chris Nettles, who attended Tuesday’s meeting virtually, was the only no vote. He argued in a text message to the Star-Telegram that the city has spent too much money on the lawsuit.
“I just refuse to continue to pump money in a law suit that I don’t agree with,” Nettles said in the text.
Fort Worth initially allocated $250,000 to fight the case in February 2022. It doubled that amount in May 2022 before increasing it to $900,000 in September 2023.
This latest addition is needed money after a Dallas County judge postponed Fitzgerald’s court date from early January to Oct. 7, according to city documents.
The delay is forcing the outside law firm hired by the city to spend extra time and resources on the city’s defense, the documents said. This includes preparation for what the city expects to be a three to four week trial, along with any post trial legal work.
The city tried to resolve the case in mediation, but was unable to reach a settlement, a spokesperson said in an email to the Star-Telegram.
Fort Worth hired Fitzgerald to serve as the city’s police chief in 2015. He lost his job, however, in May 2019 shortly after getting into an argument with a police union leader at a conference in Washington, D.C.
City leaders accused Fitzgerald of having an “increasing lack of good judgment,” citing his mismanagement both of the police department’s budget and his relationships with other city department heads, according to a letter from city manager David Cooke.
However, a July 2019 ruling by the Texas Workforce Commission found there was no evidence Fitzgerald had committed any work-related misconduct, and in May 2020 a court ordered the city change his discharge designation to honorable.
Fitzgerald has pointed to the fact that his firing came hours before he was scheduled to meet with federal investigators over concerns the city had violated the Criminal Justice Information Systems Act. He alleged city employees lied about the city being in compliance with regulations needed to access a federal law enforcement database, and that the employees destroyed evidence to cover it up.
Fitzgerald unsuccessfully sued to stop the city from hiring his replacement. He now works as the chief of police and emergency management for the Regional Transportation District in Denver.
