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On March 5, Melanie McDade-Dickens, former assistant and ex-girlfriend to
Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr., was ordered to pay $217,404 in sanctions for
failing to turn over documents relative to her wrongful termination lawsuit
against the City.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lia Martin’s ruling prevents McDade-Dickens
from introducing new evidence supporting her allegations that Butts fired
because she ended their affair.
Mira Hashmall, attorney for Inglewood, said in a statement that the sanction
order found “Melanie McDade committed perjury in sworn declarations and
destroyed evidence that would prove the misconduct that led to her
employment being terminated by the City.”
The City also alleges that McDade-Dickens was fired for forging documents and
persuading a subordinate to co-sign so she could qualify for a home loan. She is
also accused of altering financial records and lying about a financial hardship to
withdraw money early from her retirement account to cover the down payment.
McDade-Dickens’ employment with the City was terminated in 2019. The court
battle has been going on since 2021. Last August, the former assistant
demanded $65 million to settle the case, based on allegations that her
employment was subject to her submitting to the mayor’s sexual advances. Her
attorneys offered emails and text messages exchanged between Butts and
McDade-Dickens as evidence of retaliation and sexual harassment after the
breakup.
David Miller, McDade-Dickens’ attorney says his client has not broken any laws
and contends that there is a conflict of interest between Butts and the law firm
representing him, as the firm previously donated to the mayor’s political
campaign.
The sanction covers attorneys’ fees “incurred for work performed by one
attorney at a reduced rate as a direct result of Plaintiff’s discovery abuse” and
violation of a prior court order, according to the ruling. Miller disagreed with the
ruling and pledged to appeal the decision.
“The rulings of the Court are totally unrelated to the core issues of the case and
have no connection whatsoever to the illegal quid pro quo conduct of Mayor
James Butts,” Miller said. “Moreover, the inaccurate conclusions of the Court do
not change the fact that Mayor Butts engaged in an extra-marital sexual affair
with his subordinate for multiple years and, once Ms. McDade ended that
relationship, Mayor Butts used the power of his office to illegally retaliate against
her.”
He added that his client plans to “vigorously pursue her claims against Mayor
Butts” and is confident she will prevail at trial.
In 2021, one of the claims related to sexual harassment was thrown out by a
judge because the case was filed late. However, proving sexual harassment is
still critical to the overall litigation, as it would support other claims alleging
retaliation, the city’s failure to investigate and prevent sexual harassment,
negligent supervision and harassment.
