Bruce Tichinin’s lawsuit against the City of Morgan Hill is the
height of audacity. Tichinin’s lawyer, Steven Fink, claims that
city officials violated his client’s civil rights and punished
him
”
for his speech.
”
At one point, Tichinin estimated his business losses at $2
million, but he is not currently putting a dollar figure on his
civil rights claim.
Bruce Tichinin’s lawsuit against the City of Morgan Hill is the height of audacity. Tichinin’s lawyer, Steven Fink, claims that city officials violated his client’s civil rights and punished him “for his speech.” At one point, Tichinin estimated his business losses at $2 million, but he is not currently putting a dollar figure on his civil rights claim.
A re-cap of the two-year “Keystone Cops” Morgan Hill saga is in order. Tichinin, a local lawyer, working on the theory that an alleged affair between two city employees was the reason that his client’s project was torpedoed, hired a private investigator to follow one on a business trip. When two mugs of hot chocolate mysteriously appeared in a hotel room, the employee became aware that he was being followed, and the city investigated. The city investigation concluded that Tichinin was behind the pursuit.
After Tichinin’s role in the scandal became clear, the council asked for his resignation from a city task force and threatened to report him to the district attorney’s office and the state bar association. Some city officials – quite understandably – also made negative statements about Tichinin’s actions. Let’s remember that city officials have First Amendment speech rights, too.
Tichinin says his business has dropped dramatically since the scandal broke a year and half ago.
Of course it has. And the blame for that lies with Tichinin, not the city, and certainly not with its residents who will pay for defending the city from such a trashy lawsuit. Tichinin displayed a disturbing lack of judgment and foresight in this matter. Would it really be a surprise if his potential clients were looking at this situation, evaluating it and deciding to hire another lawyer?
Even if the subjects of Tichinin’s theory had been having an affair (and no evidence supporting that charge was ever found, and the parties involved have steadfastly denied the allegations), so what? Would it necessarily have anything to do with the failure of Tichinin’s client’s project?
Tichinin’s pursuit of an imagined scandal has cost the residents of Morgan Hill hundreds of thousands of dollars in investigation fees, city staff time and lawsuit settlements.
Tichinin told reporter Matt King, “The city was absolutely uncooperative in our attempt to settle with them.”
He’s right – the city could have made the whole saga quickly disappear. When he filed the original suit last summer, Tichinin agreed to drop the suit if the city would only apologize and clear his name of perceived illegal conduct. He believed the city’s threat to call in the state bar and district attorney made it seem as though he did something unlawful. It would have taken the swallowing of some political pride to make Tichinin sign an agreement not to sue, then apologize publicly to protect the public from having to fund this battle, but the council decided against it.
Now, we urge them to take a tough line and put a stop to the fiscal pain this scandal has caused Morgan Hill taxpayers, who are currently facing a $1.3 million budget shortfall. Perhaps the city should counter sue and at least try to recover its attorney fees.
“I am convinced there is no merit to (Tichinin’s) claim and the city will ultimately prevail,” Morgan Hill Mayor Dennis Kennedy said.
We trust the justice system will find exactly that. Bruce Tichinin doesn’t deserve one thin dime of Morgan Hill taxpayer money.
