Jim Gilliand is a lot richer today. The Ferris cop, Waxahachie resident, and former Dallas County reserve constable under Mike Dupree (the gay Democratic constable that recently resigned from office in disgrace; did I mention the ultra-Democratic BurntOrangeReport.com carried nothing on that?) and two other former reserves settled a court case in Dallas County for $550,000 — split three ways; that just might get Gilliand an Ellis County constable position, more specifically, the Precinct 2 slot (as has been rumored) currently held by Terry Nay.
County OKs constables’ settlementDallas: $550,000 to be split among 3 deputies who sued over lost jobs
12:00 AM CDT on Tuesday, September 18, 2007
By KEVIN KRAUSE / The Dallas Morning News
kkrause@dallasnews.comDallas County has settled a six-year-old lawsuit brought by three deputy constables who lost their jobs after the 2000 elections.
The county settled the lawsuit last month for $550,000, which will be split among the three former deputy constables, said their attorney, Steven DeWolf.
County commissioners had a chance to settle the case back in 2002 for just $172,000, Mr. DeWolf said. He said the county has spent thousands of taxpayer dollars unnecessarily on legal fees to fight the case.
Commissioners will vote today to reinstate Jim Gilliand as a deputy constable at the Precinct 5 constable office in Oak Cliff as part of the settlement.
“All he ever wanted was to go back to work,” Mr. DeWolf said.
Sonia Avina chose not to get her job back because she doesn’t trust the county, he said. Stanley Gaines died in 2001, but his family will receive money from the county as part of the settlement, Mr. DeWolf said.
Mr. DeWolf said the county was supposed to issue a prompt public apology to his clients for not reinstating them after Constable Mike Dupree failed to deputize them after he was elected in 2000.
As of Monday, county commissioners had not apologized, he said.
Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price said the language of the apology hasn’t been agreed upon yet.
He said he doesn’t remember details of the settlement talks back in 2002
“The court took a position based on the facts and the evidence at that particular time,” Mr. Price said. “It’s always easy to talk about what we could have done.”
For example, one of the county’s witnesses turned out to be a “rogue constable,” he said, referring to Mr. Dupree.
The county had argued that deputy constables’ civil service status expired with a constable’s term and that they didn’t have to be rehired, but a jury found in the deputies’ favor in November 2002.
An appellate court upheld the $1.5 million judgment against Dallas County. The county appealed that decision to the Texas Supreme Court, which sent the case back to district court for further proceedings earlier this year.
A trial had been scheduled on the issue of whether there was just cause for their dismissal.
Mr. DeWolf said he thinks Mr. Dupree’s departure in June helped with the settlement. Mr. Dupree resigned to avoid a trial to remove him from the Precinct 5 office on the grounds of official misconduct and incompetence.
He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of abuse of official capacity, relinquished his peace officer license and agreed never to run for public office as part of an agreement with state officials who were investigating him.
