Houston police lawsuit near trial

PALMER — Remember Charley McAnally, former captain of the erstwhile Houston Police Department?

If you don’t, there are some people at the Palmer Courthouse who do. And he’s scheduled to make an appearance there Nov. 4 when trial starts in a wrongful termination lawsuit he filed against the city of Houston in 2011.

Trial was schedule to start this week, but then his attorney, Ken Jacobus, came to court Sept. 5 pleading for more time.

“This is about as sick as I’ve ever been in my life except when I tore the ligaments in my kneecap,” Jacobus told Superior Court Judge Kari Kristiansen.

In a filing he made in court, the sickness sounded like a particularly terrible flu — headache, sinus infection and vomiting.

Jacobus also said there were things that need to be cleared up in the case before heading to trial, and that he is involved in a case in Fairbanks that requires his attention as it is “literally a matter of life or death” for a client who needs his help getting his living situation put right before winter comes.

McAnally’s lawsuit was filed against Mayor Virgie Thompson, Deputy Mayor Jim Johansen, city treasurer Carolyn Grabowski and Dallas Massie, a retired Alaska State Trooper who has never worked for the city.

McAnally’s lawsuit alleges everything from breach of contract to unfair practices, to retaliation, wrongful termination and even the violation of McAnally’s constitutional rights.

The allegations against Massie essentially accuse him of defamation, alleging he said unflattering things to the council about McAnally.

Jacobus in one of his court filings said that he’d thought the matter with Massie had been settled until he found out Massie had rejected language drafted up in a written agreement dropping the lawsuit.

“No evidence has generated to support any truth of (McAnally’s) allegations,” reads a document prepared by Massie’s lawyer late last month. “Instead, (McAnally’s) ongoing effort is to quiet Dallas Massie, which has not been an acceptable resolution.”

Attorneys representing the defendants in the lawsuit argued that trial should not be delayed.

“He hasn’t suggested that his condition is anything that can prevent him from showing up for trial on Monday,” Danielle Ryman, representing the city, told the judge.

She argued that city officials have put in substantial time preparing for trial and scheduled time off, time that it’s not easy to rearrange.

Kristiansen, though, agreed to a delay.

“It’s just not feasible and it’s not practical to require counsel to be in trial when he’s that sick,” Kristiansen said.

As for the city’s take on McAnally’s allegations, a city court filing on the eve of trial sums it up pretty succinctly. McAnally wasn’t retaliated against or wrongfully fired. He was fired because he was a bad employee.

“McAnally was an incapable leader who lacked managerial skills and failed to provide adequate guidance to the officers he oversaw,” the city’s court filing reads. “McAnally had an oppositional personality, meaning anytime he faced conflict or received constructive feedback he would respond aggressively, frequently accusing his colleagues of wrongful conduct.”

The filing also sheds some light on one of the stranger aspects of the case. Even before he was fired, McAnally alleged that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was investigating wrongdoing at the city, it says.

“Beyond his own self-serving testimony and conjecture, there is no evidence to support his claims that there was ever any embezzlement or open FBI investigations into wrongdoing by mayor Thompson or treasurer Grabowski. On the contrary, the evidence shows that McAnally would often himself retaliate against his colleagues, reacting to confrontation by accusing his superiors of criminal conduct,” according to a court filing from the city.

“Starting in January 2011, after receiving a written disciplinary statement for (a citizen complaint about his police work) McAnally emailed the FBI complaining about mayor Thompson and treasurer Grabowski,” the filing says. “At the same time, he accused the chief of the fire department of perjury after the chief submitted a written statement regarding (the police incident McAnally was disciplined for). Later, in March 2011, after receiving a poor 90-day evaluation, McAnally renewed his accusations of an ongoing FBI investigation.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.