Lawsuit filed against City of Bonners Ferry

December 3, 2014

In a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court, and received at city offices last week, a former employee of the City of Bonners Ferry Electrical Shop is requesting a jury trial to decide his claims of violation of his right to due process in his loss of employment, violation of his First Amendment rights, violation of the Civil Rights Act, and violations of Idaho law regarding breach of contract, infliction of emotional distress, defamation, and negligent training and supervision. Former city employee Daniel Rice and his wife Becky Rice, plaintiffs in the case, named the City of Bonners Ferry, City Administrator Stephen Boorman, and Mayor David Anderson as defendants in their complaint. Because of the claimed violations noted above, Mr. Rice is seeking compensation for back pay resulting from having lost his employment with the City, along with anticipated forward pay, and loss of health insurance, retirement, and any other employment benefits. He is also seeking compensatory damages for loss of career track, reputation, and emotional distress. Ms. Rice is requesting compensation for mental anguish and loss of companionship, society, and comfort with her husband. Specific dollar amounts of compensation for their claims have not yet been established nor requested in the court document. Mr. and Ms. Rice are represented by Wilson Law Firm attorneys Timothy B. Wilson and Thomas A. Bushnell. According to the written complaint, Mr. Rice was hired by the City in 2002, and over the next several years received promotions and pay raises, eventually being promoted to superintendent of the City's Electrical Shop. In the complaint, Mr. Rice alleges that a consistent pattern of harassment, undermining, and retaliatory action from City administrators began around the fall of 2012, after he complained of offensive materials being present in the workplace of the Electrical Shop. The complaint alleges that displayed in the Electrical Shop were multiple pictures and other objects that Mr. Rice considered to be variously racist, disparaging of religion, and of a sexually offensive nature. Mr. Rice claims that in October 2012 he advised his supervisor, City Administrator Stephen Boorman, that the pictures and offensive items should be removed from the City Shop. He further claims that Mr. Boorman ignored the request to remove the items. The complaint states another employee also expressed concern regarding the items to a member of the City Council, and the same employee later sent a letter of concern to the City and included copies of the alleged offensive pictures. The complaint alleges that over time Mr. Boorman eventually became more hostile toward Mr. Rice. Mr. Rice claims that in subsequent meetings with the City Administrator, Mr. Boorman, he was advised on multiple occasions to seek counseling at a church. The complaint states that after several years of employment with the City, Mr. Rice was given his first ever letter of reprimand from the City in December 2013 for not calling in when he was sick--a reprimand Mr. Rice states was actually retaliation for his opposing a proposal Mr. Boorman had made earlier for the purchase of a transformer. According to the court document, Mr. Rice went on unpaid leave from his job in February 2014. He claims that the City informed multiple third parties at that time, including his ex-wife and the Idaho Child Support Services office, that he had been fired from his position, when in fact, by his account, he had actually been placed on unpaid leave. The complaint states that Mr. Rice returned to work in March 2014, but that a condition of his return would be a demotion to lineman, losing his position as superintendent of the Electrical Shop. Mr. Rice claims that upon his return to work, rather than being given electric work to do, he was assigned tasks to stack pipe, pile rocks, clean the yard, or pick up rocks all day, all alone and without any supervisory or safety checks. He considered these types of duties to be retaliatory action by the City. According to the complaint, in mid April 2014, after being sick at home and not able to go to work for several days, his employment was terminated by the City. The 31 page complaint contains many other reported details and allegations said to have occurred during the last couple of years of his period of his employment dating from October of 2012. Mr. Rice alleges that, with respect to the above incidents and others listed in the complaint, the City violated his civil rights under the Civil Rights Act by taking adverse action against him for opposing and reporting discriminatory practices in the workplace. He further alleges that his right to due process was violated, as well as his rights under the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution, and his rights under Title 42 of the United States Code, which deals with, among other things, civil rights, and civil action for deprivation of civil rights. He is also alleging breach of contract with regard to his termination of employment, and breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing. He is alleging further that City supervisors have not been adequately trained in protecting the rights of employees, protecting them from discrimination, and protection from other constitutional violations. Bonners Ferry City Attorney AndraKay Pluid was contacted for comment regarding Mr. and Ms. Rice's complaint. She indicated she will not be involved in the litigation, the case being handled instead by Peter Erbland, a Coeur d'Alene attorney retained by the City's insurer. Mr. Erbland did not respond to a message seeking his comment. Attorneys for Mr. and Ms. Rice, Tim Wilson and Thomas Bushnell, were also contacted. They had no comment on the case. With this complaint having been filed, the next step will be the City's written legal response to the allegations. If the allegations are denied by the City, a period of legal discovery takes place as the claims are investigated and information is gathered. The time frame for all of this could be somewhat protracted, and it may well be months before the next steps in the process are completed, and not unusual for a trial date to be set 12 to 15 months following the initial steps of a typical case. The case has been filed in the United States District Court, District of Idaho, and assigned to District Judge Edward J. Lodge, who began his judicial career in 1963, and is one of Idaho's longest serving judges.