St. Louis Appeals Discrimination Suit It Lost, Again

The city's costs climb higher every day as it continues to litigate the six year-old case

Jul 7, 2023 at 10:30 am

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

Former SLMPD Detective Sgt. Heather Taylor.

The City of St. Louis has once again appealed a $300,000 judgment levied against it after losing a discrimination lawsuit brought against it by former SLMPD detective Heather Taylor.

After an unsuccessful attempt for a new trial in Circuit Court, the City Counselor's Office has now filed notice that it will take the case to the Missouri Court of Appeals.

As all this plays out, the city's bill for the case continues to climb.

In March, a jury awarded Taylor $300,000 after agreeing she had been retaliated against after speaking to the media in a manner the department claimed was unauthorized. She argued that white officers had spoken to the press in a similar manner and were not reprimanded.

Not long after the jury made its award, City Counselor Sheena Hamilton's office filed a motion for a new trial, claiming Taylor had in her possession 400 audio recordings, some of which would have altered the outcome of the trial if the jury had heard them. Taylor not disclosing them was a “serious violation” of the city's discovery rights, the city said.

Those recordings came to the city attorney's attention because they were related to a suit being brought by Milton Green, a Black former St. Louis city police officer who was shot by a colleague.

But late last month, Judge Joan Moriarty rejected the city's request for a new trial, writing that though Taylor ought to have turned over some of the recordings, they wouldn't have been consequential enough to sway the jury. In addition to the initial judgment, she also ordered that the city pay Taylor's attorney's fees, totaling $326,000.

Taylor's attorney Brian Love tells the RFT that this current appeal to a higher court is based on the same premise as their previous request for a new trial.

Now, as the case works its way through the Missouri Court of Appeals, the city is also on the hook for interest on the money it owes Taylor. Like a credit card bill going unpaid, the $626,000 sum will continue to grow by 10.25 percent, or $64,165, a year.

Even pricier is Judge Moriarty's order for the city to pay Taylor's attorney's fees, including her costs as the case goes through its current round of appeals.

Attorney Javad Khazaeli, who is representing Green in his case, tells the RFT that attorney's fees for Taylor's lawyers will run about $500 an hour and that the appeal will require at least 200 hours of work, for a total of $100,000.

When asked what Khazaeli thinks this money might be better spent on, he says, "A 911 operator."

According to salary.com, the average annual pay for a 911 operator in the St. Louis area is $41,579, significantly less than the interest the city is now paying on the original judgment.