The City Hall scandal council members had hoped was behind them
will likely dominate their closed-session meetings again as lawyer
Bruce Tichinin filed suit against the city last Friday.
n By rose Meily Staff Writer
The City Hall scandal council members had hoped was behind them will likely dominate their closed-session meetings again as lawyer Bruce Tichinin filed suit against the city last Friday.
Days before the statute of limitations expired, Tichinin alleged he was a victim of libel and slander by the city council in the suit filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court. He claims the council slandered him when they denounced him for ordering an investigation last summer into the alleged affair between City Manager Ed Tewes and former City Attorney Helene Leichter.
Though an affair was never proven and both Tewes and Leichter repeatedly denied the affair, Tichinin contends a Morgan Hill City Council resolution condemning his actions and threats to call for a District Attorney and State Bar Association investigation damaged his reputation as a lawyer and his personal life. He also said the Council’s actions, which were widely covered by local media, were libelous and added further injury to his law practice. In an interview with the Morgan Hill Times, Tichinin estimated his losses at approximately $2 million.
Tichinin said he repeatedly requested the city to either renounce their condemnation of his actions, which he maintains was only in the best interest of his client Howard Vierra, or call for a District Attorney and State Bar Association investigation. Either way, his name would have been cleared, he said. But the city did neither, Tichinin said, and in doing so effectively labeled him as an unethical lawyer who broke the law.
“My only objective in filing the lawsuit is to put this matter behind us. To do that requires clearing my name of the false charge by the city, that I committed some unspecified crime or unethical violation,” Tichinin said.
Tichinin, however, maintains he did nothing illegal or unethical by contracting a private investigator who followed Tewes to a meeting in Santa Barbara in attempt to prove the alleged affair.
Tichinin at that time represented Vierra, a developer who wanted to build homes near the base of El Toro. He was also Vierra’s principal development partner. City planners denied their proposal because it crossed the open-space boundary on El Toro approved by voters in 2001. However, the boundary line was drawn incorrectly in the voter-approved general plan update. Had the line been drawn correctly, Tichinin said, Vierra’s proposal would have been allowed. A judge upheld the voter-approved boundary in June.
Tichinin said he discussed appealing the city’s denial the development project with Leichter. He claims Leichter told him she would advise the city that it was reasonable to allow the project because the line was drawn incorrectly. But in a subsequent meeting with Tewes, Leichter and city staff, Tichinin said Tewes “made it apparent he was opposed to the project.” Then at the following council meeting, Tichinin said Leichter reversed her opinion and told council members that Tichinin’s proposal was “legally wrong.”
Tichinin said the reversal made him believe rumors about an affair between Tewes and Leichter. To find out if an affair had influenced Leichter’s actions, Tichinin contracted an investigator from CC Investigations to follow Tewes out of town.
Tewes learned he was being followed and alerted the city council. Council members then authorized an investigation to discover who was tailing Tewes. The city council then formed a subcommittee to investigate the matter, issue a report, and in February, the Council adopted a resolution condemning Tichinin for his actions and calling for his immediate resignation from the Morgan Hill Urban Limit Line subcommittee.
“The way they made that charge was to adopt a subcommittee report on the surveillance that suggested the city council could refer me to the DA for prosecution and the State Bar of California for prosecution. That recommendation carries the implication that I committed an unspecified crime or unethical violation,” Tichinin said.
In essence, Tichinin said, he is demanding a public apology from the city and acknowledgment that the council was wrong in implying he had done anything wrong.
“I’d like them to admit that I committed no crime or ethical violation, that in condemning the surveillance I was simply carrying out my duty as an attorney in an entirely confidential manner and (I want them) to rescind the resolution condemning me from commissioning the surveillance.”
In January of this year, Tichinin filed a claim against the city, but the city did not respond. The claim is a preliminary step to the lawsuit he filed.
Tichinin said the next step is for the county to serve the clerk of court, and from that time, the council has 30 days to file a response.
Tichinin said if the city apologizes, he would drop the lawsuit and not seek monetary damages.
“I am hopeful that (the lawsuit) will be unnecessary so that the taxpayers are not going to have to spend money on this, but it is up to the city council,” said Tichinin.
As of Friday, city officials said they had not been served with the papers. Council members contacted by the Times Friday said they could not comment on the pending litigation.
“It (the lawsuit) has not hit the city yet, and if it does, I don’t think I could comment without consulting our attorney,” Mayor Dennis Kennedy said.
The affair was never proven, but Leichter resigned because of the scandal and received a settlement from the city as part of an agreement that she would not file a civil suit. So far, the whole scandal has cost the city more than $400,000 in mounting legal fees, the city’s investigation and Leichter’s settlements. The April 20 separation agreement with Leichter cost the city $233,055.80, including $71,805.80 for salary and benefits and $161,250 to compensate for undescribed “alleged physical injury or sickness.” The council has refused to discuss details of the settlement.
“It’s difficult for me to comment on this pending case, just that I believe we acted appropriately, and I hope the matter can be resolved without having to go to court,” City Councilman Greg Sellers said.
Rose Meily covers City Hall for the Morgan Hill Times. Reach her at 779-4106 or by e-mail at rm****@mo*************.com.
