East St. Louis City Manager Robert Betts
EAST ST. LOUIS — A federal judge has openly threatened to jail East St. Louis' city manager as part of an order dialing up the pressure yet again on the city of East St. Louis and its top officials to comply with court orders, amid a long-running legal fight between the city and two government workers who have accused the city of firing them in retaliation for revealing alleged misconduct at East St. Louis' housing authority.
U.S. District Judge David Dugan issued the order on June 24. In the order, Dugan blasted East St. Louis, its attorneys and the city's top officials, particularly including City Manager Robert Betts, for their sustained pattern of "willful disregard" of Dugan's orders in the litigation brought by plaintiffs Nicholas and Shonte Mueller.
In the order, the judge noted the city has in recent weeks indicated it is beginning to comply with Dugan's orders directing the city to locate, preserve and turn over documents, communications and other evidence the judge says is needed to determine how much the city ultimately should pay to the Muellers under a judgment entered earlier this year.
But the judge said the city's recent filings and progress are "too little, too late" to stave off a new round of sanctions against the city, and threats for yet more.
Among the new sanctions, the judge doubled to $200 per day the amount the city will be forced to pay until they come into compliance with Dugan's prior orders.
And in his order, Dugan personally warned Betts that if the city continues to drag its feet on complying with the orders and continues to offer "post-hoc excuses" for non-compliance, then Betts, as city manager, could be held personally in contempt of court. The judge noted sanctions under such a contempt finding could include jail time for Betts.
The Muellers, a married couple, have been embroiled in litigation with East. St. Louis for years. Nicholas served as assistant police chief, while Shonte was a housing authority commissioner. Their wrongful termination lawsuit targeted the city, its housing authority and an agent, Michael Collins, as well as Betts; East St. Louis Mayor Charles Powell III; and City Council members Courtney Hoffman II and LaVondo Pulley.
The Muellers claim Shonte lost her job after reporting the housing authority wasn’t complying with federal laws and said Nicholas also was fired on the same grounds. They also say the government defendants — specifically the city and Betts — repeatedly missed discovery deadlines and extensions or provided inadequate responses.
In April, Dugan entered a default judgment against the city and the individual official defendants, saying it was needed to punish East St. Louis' city government for a "repeated and willful disregard" of the court's orders in the case.
In that ruling, Dugan noted the city and Betts, personally, had all but ignored repeated court orders directing the city and Betts to turn over documents and evidence. The judge particularly faulted the city and Betts for failing to even begin reviewing or collecting "internal correspondence, emails, or communications," including communications on Betts' cell phone.
Further, the judge faulted the city for not properly responding to the plaintiffs' filings.
Following the judge's April order, the city finally lodged an answer to the Muellers' complaint. But Dugan noted that answer was three months late and had been filed without first seeking permission from the court.
Dugan said the city asserted it had not responded in a timely fashion because it "has been 'aggressively trying to resolve the dispute' with the Muellers.
And the city essentially cried poor, asserting its difficulties in representing itself in court in the dispute with the Muellers has been hampered by "logistical and bureaucratic obstacles to obtaining necessary internal approvals; that it faces a budget deficit, underfunded police and fire pension obligations, and ongoing Clean Water Act litigation; that revenue from the Casino Queen has declined by 50 percent; and that, as a financially distressed municipality with limited tax revenue, it has operated under significant resource constraints."
The judge, however, said those excuses do not excuse the city's failure to abide by court orders and court deadlines.
The city and Betts "have engaged in a prolonged and willful failure to search for, preserve, and produce responsive electronically stored information despite multiple court orders requiring forensic imaging and production," with Betts even admitting under oath that he "never searched his own devices for responsive information."
And that pattern continued even after the judge entered his initial round of sanctions, including default judgment and an order directing the city to pay the Muellers' attorney fees and an additional $100 per day until the city complied with the discovery orders.
On July 1, the city filed a notice in court indicating they had hired Transperfect Legal, of Chicago, ostensibly to assist with forensic collection and review, and had begun "the process of retrieving information from cell phones" on July 1.
The judge has not yet responded to the notice.
East St. Louis is represented by attorneys Charles J. Baricevic and Alvin Paulson, of Chatham & Baricevic, of Belleville.
The Muellers are represented by attorney S. Cody Reinberg, of HKM Employment Attorneys, of St. Louis.
