Inglewood mayor’s second accuser retracts lawsuit, alleges her lawyers lied

A erstwhile media advisor has withdrawn a intersexual harassment suit filed earlier this period against Inglewood Mayor James T.  Butts Jr. and is present accusing her attorneys of embellishing the allegations.

The woman, identified successful the suit arsenic Jane Doe, purportedly sent an email Oct. 20 to her attorneys, Carl Douglas and Maryann Gallagher, demanding they disregard the lawsuit immediately, according to a transcript of the email released by the metropolis of Inglewood. In the email, Doe does not contradict each of the allegations successful the lawsuit, but alleges that her attorneys included inaccurate portions that she antecedently told them to correct.

“I’m profoundly disturbed with the lies and embellishments that were submitted,” she wrote.

In her email, Doe denies that she is depressed oregon that she suffered physical, affectional oregon intelligence pain. She says she ne'er retained doctors oregon counselors, arsenic the suit indicates. And she insists Butts did not ruin her life.

“Mayor Butts was NEVER convulsive with maine and helium did NOT lure maine to City Hall,” Doe wrote. “I person nary thought wherever you came up with these narratives.”

Asked for correction previously

Doe states she requested corrections to akin connection aft the attorneys submitted a $5 cardinal assertion for damages — a precursor to the suit — against Inglewood successful March, but that her attorneys did not marque the changes earlier filing the ailment earlier this month.

The Southern California News Group could not independently verify the email due to the fact that Doe, who signed the email with her existent name, could not beryllium reached. The email primitively was attached to a ceremonial missive sent by Inglewood’s attorney, Mira Hashmall, to Douglas and Gallagher, demanding the attorneys retract the litigation.

Gallagher submitted a petition for dismissal connected behalf of Doe 2 days aft the email was sent. Gallagher and Douglas did not instrumentality a telephone for comment.

The original lawsuit accused the metropolis of turning a unsighted oculus to the mayor’s usage of metropolis funds to prosecute women helium wanted to person enactment with and his consequent intersexual harassment of them. It alleged the city’s elder administrators did not instrumentality “allegations of intersexual harassment and intersexual battle seriously” and alternatively enabled Butts’ actions. Doe alleges she was sexually harassed by the politician portion moving for the metropolis arsenic a media advisor nether a $10,000 contract.

The suit alleges she mislaid retired connected a imperishable occupation aft asking the politician astir other reports of intersexual harassment.

Malicious prosecution?

City officials accidental Doe ne'er worked for Inglewood and that she completed her declaration without immoderate issues. She was passed implicit for a occupation anterior to receiving the consulting gig due to the fact that she did not taxable the due paperwork, according to Inglewood’s attorneys.

Inglewood is present threatening to writer Douglas and Gallagher for “malicious prosecution,” which would necessitate the metropolis to beryllium the attorneys knowingly made the allegations without having probable cause. Hashmall attached Doe’s email — which Doe sent to Butts and Hashmall arsenic good — to an Oct. 25 missive that warned that Inglewood’s damages were “mounting.”

“You cannot conscionable ‘wait out’ the consequences of your wrongful actions,” Hashmall wrote successful the letter. “Every infinitesimal you maintained the lawsuit connected record — contempt clear, repeated directives from Jane Doe to disregard it — is further grounds of your malice.”

Trying to extort city

In a statement, Hashmall accused Douglas and Gallagher of trying to extort the metropolis by utilizing the allegations to propulsion for an aboriginal settlement.

She besides alleged the attorneys hoped to usage Doe’s suit to lend credence to a abstracted suit they filed connected behalf of Butts’ erstwhile assistant, Melanie McDade-Dickens, who was successful a narration with the politician but was terminated from the metropolis aft they broke up.

“From the beginning, we knew the allegations attributed to Jane Doe against Mayor Butts and the City of Inglewood were false. What we did not cognize until precocious is that Jane Doe told her attorneys the allegations successful the March 2021 assertion for damages were false, and they nevertheless proceeded to record further complaints with those aforesaid mendacious allegations,” Hashmall stated.

“The City Council takes this effort to extort taxpayers’ funds precise earnestly and volition find what its ineligible effect volition beryllium to clasp Carl Douglas and Maryann Gallagher accountable for their actions.”