The case, Brown v. Young, just settled; the government employer (the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) agreed to pay plaintiff $275K ($40K in back wages + $235K in compensatory damages) + $210K in attorneys' fees and costs. The Commission also agreed to give plaintiff a neutral reference in any future employment inquiries, and (to quote the ACLU press release), "to permit her to interact with FWC staff and resources on the same basis as any other external partner or volunteer, preserving her ability to continue her conservation work through partner organizations."
In exchange plaintiff resigned, dropped the case, and released her claims, including those related to sanctions that were awarded last week; here's an excerpt from the sanctions (read the whole sanctions decision for more):
This Court concludes that Plaintiff is entitled to attorneys' fees based on Ms. Tucker's and defense counsel's1 objectively unreasonable multiplication of proceedings in continuing to defend the Tucker declaration once it became clear that Ms. Tucker lacked personal knowledge to make the false statements identified above. Fees shall be split between Ms. Tucker and defense counsel and will be assessed at the conclusion of this case. To be clear, there must be a sanction for Ms. Tucker and her prior counsel's continued efforts to ignore the obvious—that Ms. Tucker lacked the personal knowledge necessary to make certain statements in her declaration and that such statements were, in fact, false—and defend the indefensible once that lack of personal knowledge and falsity became clear following Ms. Tucker's deposition.
