Jury awards fired Seattle court worker $460k

A federal-court jury awarded $460,000 Monday to a former Seattle Municipal Court employee because his rights were violated when he was fired by court Presiding Judge Fred Bonner in 2004.

The jury found that Bruce Eklund, 31, should receive $310,000 for damage to his finances and reputation. The jury assessed an additional $150,000 in punitive damages against Bonner.

Eklund said he felt "redeemed" by the verdict in U.S. District Court.

The jury decided Eklund did not get a fair hearing from Bonner.

A spokeswoman for City Attorney Tom Carr said the city would appeal within 30 days.

The jury decided Eklund was not wrongfully terminated, Carr's spokeswoman Ruth Bowman noted. That was the "main crux" of Eklund's case, Bowman said. It's "bewildering," she said, that the jury sided with the city on that point but still felt Eklund's due-process rights were violated.

A Municipal Court spokeswoman directed questions for the court and Bonner to Carr's office.

Eklund contends he was fired from his job as a court analyst because he did not want to follow his superiors' order to conceal information from the city's Finance Department.

Specifically, Eklund believed the court should give city financial analysts data he had dug up showing that court magistrates forgave $1.5 million in parking and traffic fines over an 18-month period.

Eklund said his superiors told him not to give the information to anyone outside the court because it could embarrass the magistrates.

Bonner, however, rejected Eklund's 2004 claim that his firing was related to his stance that the court should not conceal or misrepresent his findings.

Instead, a court disciplinary memo said, Eklund was fired because he asked a co-worker to help him delay payment on several parking tickets he had received.

Eklund maintained that he got no favors and eventually paid all of the parking tickets in question and $148 in penalties.

As for the city's appeal, Eklund's attorney, Cleve Stockmeyer, said Carr and the Municipal Court need "to get a clue."

"If someone is trying to spin a $460,000 loss as a victory, I'm not buying it," Stockmeyer said. "We should expect a judge to understand due process. The jury thinks he broke the rules with callous disregard to Mr. Eklund's due-process rights."

Bob Young: 206-464-2174 or byoung@seattletimes.com