Hutto to ask for verdict reversal after judge upholds $12.5 million jury award in lawsuit

Austin American-Statesman
Claire Osborn - Austin American-Statesman
March 23, 2023

The city of Hutto will file a motion within the next month asking a federal judge to set aside a $12.5 million jury verdict against it in a racial discrimination lawsuit brought by former City Manager Odis Jones, an official said.

"I think for whatever reason the jury did not follow the judge's instructions," said George Hyde, an attorney for the city said in an interview on Wednesday. "If they followed," he said, "then they would not have reached the verdict they reached."

Federal District Judge Mark Lane filed a final judgment in favor of Jones on Tuesday that upheld the jury's $12.5 million verdict against Hutto on March 2 after a four-day trial.

The city has 26 days to file a motion to set the verdict aside, Hyde said.

Holt Lackey, Jones' lawyer, declined to comment about the case on Wednesday.

Jones sued the city in December 2020, saying it had breached his contract by voiding his $412,000 separation agreement with him because of his race.

Jones, who is Black, was Hutto's city manager from 2016-19. In November 2019, the City Council approved a severance agreement with Jones for $412,000.

The City Council voided the agreement on Dec. 3, 2020, saying it was not properly executed. Hutto argued during the trial that the posted City Council meeting agenda where the separation agreement was considered did not have enough information in it to comply with the Texas Open Meetings Act, according to a supplemental order that the judge also issued on Tuesday.

The city also argued that the meeting minutes did not indicate the mayor was authorized to execute the agreement, the order said.

The suit also was also filed against council members Mike Snyder, Tanner Rose and former City Manager Warren Hutmacher.

Lackey said during the trial that Jones was discriminated against because of his race because the City Council had never rescinded a separation agreement with white employees.

Hyde disagreed on Wednesday, saying six City Council members voted to rescind Jones' separation agreement, including four members who were not named in the lawsuit. The resolution required four votes to pass. There was no evidence during the trial that those four members discriminated against Jones because of his race, Hyde said.