The yearlong saga surrounding a lawsuit brought by former Gilroy Fire Division Chief Edward Bozzo and current Fire Division Chief Phillip King against the City of Gilroy has come to an end.
The lawsuit – in which Bozzo and King claimed they were cheated out of a combined $30,000 in overtime pay – will be dismissed in the coming weeks as both parties have agreed to a settlement outside of court, according to Gilroy Human Resources Director LeeAnn McPhillips.
“The plaintiffs offered to dismiss their appeal if the City was willing to waive certain costs,” McPhillips said. “Both parties are working on the actual dismissal paperwork right now. At this point, we would like to move on to other business.”
Judge Edward Davila of the Northern District of California originally granted the City’s motion on Oct. 10 for a summary judgment, but Carol Koenig, the San Jose-based labor law attorney representing Bozzo and King, filed an appeal to the decision on Nov. 8.
Bozzo and King agreed to drop that appeal this month, which could have cost the City tens of thousands of dollars, according to Mayor Don Gage.
“We need to move forward and that’s what’s going to happen now,” Gage said.
The City has already racked up more than $88,509 in legal fees fighting the lawsuit, McPhillips added. The November decision to appeal added “minimal” costs to that total, she said, referring to just over $2,224 in costs for Bozzo and King to file an appeal – costs the City has agreed to pay.
“(Bozzo and King) requested that the City consider waiving those costs and they’d dismiss their appeal,” McPhillips said. “We’ve agreed to that and we think it’s a prudent decision to make; we’re happy to close the matter and move on.”
“The reason for not fighting (the appeal) was the cost,” Gage added. “Even if we won, our legal fees could have been in the $50,000 range. For almost $3,000, it’s not worth it; that’s taxpayer money and it’s better to pay the small fee for them filing than go through an appeal – even if they lose.”
Bozzo, who retired in December 2011, received an annual salary of $167,386 and will collect a pension of $10,800 each month for the rest of his life, while King collects a current salary of $180,232.
In their original complaint, Bozzo and King claimed the City broke federal labor laws in classifying the pair as employees exempt from overtime during the City-mandated furloughs during the recession in 2009, according to their complaint.
But in his original summary judgment in favor of the City, Judge Davila ruled that there was no genuine issue or debate that warranted taking the case to trial.
“Summary judgment must be granted where a party ‘fails to make a sufficient showing to establish the existence of an element essential to the party’s case, on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial,” he wrote in his October judgment.
Koenig will be preparing the dismissal paperwork, McPhillips said, which she expects to be filed with the court within two weeks.
