Claim for damages in Atwater case could double

The stakes are about to go up for the city of Atwater, which is looking at a second lawsuit from a twice-fired former code enforcement officer.

Mike Teater, 55, said the second complaint against the city claims he was fired illegally and was frivolously arrested late last year. Assuming the city rejects his claims, Teater said, the complaints would likely be rolled into one lawsuit and double the claim for damages to upward of $1 million.

Filed in June with the Merced Superior Court, the original lawsuit names the city of Atwater as a co-defendant along with City Manager and police Chief Frank Pietro and the Atwater Police Department’s administrative supervisor, Tyna Lamison. The new claim for damages includes the same city employees.

The original lawsuit alleges breach of contract, retaliation, a hostile work environment and defamation.

“The city trampled all over my constitutional rights,” Teater told the Sun-Star on Monday.

Citing personnel issues, city officials directed requests for comment to law firm Jackson Lewis P.C. The firm did not respond to requests for comment before press time.

Teater maintains he’s the target of a vendetta by city officials.

Teater first was fired in May 2011 after a fellow city employee, Kelly Sorensen, accused him of sexual harassment. Sorensen filed the complaint the same day Teater launched a website that posted grades for city officials. Her husband, Eric Sorenson, was given a poor grade, according to Sun-Star archives.

Teater fought the termination and was reinstated in May 2013. But in December 2014, he was fired again. He said he was not given an explanation. Atwater City Attorney Tom Terpstra said in December that Teater’s termination two days before Christmas was “warranted and justifiable” but declined to further discuss a personnel issue.

Earlier that month, Teater summoned an Atwater police officer to Camilla Trailer Park, where he worked as a manager, to deal with two trespassers on the property. After the trespassers left the area, the officer noticed a handgun inside Teater’s jacket pocket, and Teater was charged with carrying a concealed firearm.

Teater said he was within his rights to carry a weapon because the trailer park is his place of employment. In June, a jury acquitted him of the misdemeanor charge.

Teater said he believes the criminal charge was “politically motivated.”

Teater’s breach of contract claim stems from an oral agreement he says was made by Pietro after he was rehired, according to the complaint. Pietro, the lawsuit says, committed to giving Teater $10,000 from discretionary city manager funds to help cover expenses that piled up after Teater’s 2011 dismissal. Teater says Pietro did not deliver.

Teater’s claim also accuses Lamison of cursing at him and calling him names, as well as refusing to supply him with day-to-day materials he needed to do his job. The city hired an outside investigator, S.K. Nelson & Co., which found Teater’s claims of harassment to be unsubstantiated, according to documents obtained by the Sun-Star.

The complaint also says Pietro defamed Teater by telling another official that Teater would not pay back loans he was looking to take out through an employee assistance fund.

Teater also was the subject of an Internal Affairs investigation, the Sun-Star learned. The investigation was launched in April after Atwater police Sgt. Dick Wisdom filed a citizen’s complaint against Teater, claiming the timecard he filed did not accurately reflect his work hours.

Teater has said the city had an “unwritten policy” that allowed certain employees to leave early to compensate for overtime hours, without recording the extra hours on their timecards.

“I’m ready for a jury of my peers to award me for basically the damage the city has done to me,” he said.

This story was originally published September 28, 2015 at 7:07 PM with the headline "Claim for damages in Atwater case could double."