City Reaches Settlement in $1 Million Lindell Sex Discrimination Case

The City of Mercer Island has reached an undisclosed settlement on claims it illegally terminated a former Deputy City Manager in 2008.

Former Mercer Island Deputy City Manager Londi K Lindell filed a claim for $1 million in damages against the city in a federal sex discrimination lawsuit  in December 2008 with the U.S. District Court of Western Washington. She alleged that several city officials — including City Manager Rich Conrad, Mayor Jim Pearman, Deputy Mayor El Jahncke, among others — conspired to dismiss her based on her sex and in retaliation for cooperating with an investigation into an earlier sexual harassment claim filed against Conrad.

City Council's June 6 meeting was delayed for nearly an hour after council members retreated to an executive session with lawyer, Suzanne Michael, to review their options.

A scheduled June 10 hearing in U.S. District Court Judge James L Robart's chambers was dropped and clerks confirmed a settlement had been reached in all but one of the claims. Lindell's attorney, Scott Blankenship, declined to comment on any details of the settlement. City officials, including the city attorney, could not be reached for comment.

Left unresolved is an additional $1.2 million claim against the city for withholding documents sought by Lindell and her attorneys in the case under the Public Records Act. Judge Robart has scheduled a June 15 hearing at the federal courthouse in Seattle on the public records claim. 

This is a breaking news story. Mercer Island Patch will add additional information to the story one it becomes available.