Former Jefferson County Circuit Clerk candidate wins $225,000 in federal civil suit against election

[TexasTowelie]

Former Jefferson County Circuit Clerk candidate wins $225,000 in federal civil suit against election victor


JEFFERSON COUNTY • A former candidate for circuit clerk here has been awarded $225,000 by federal jurors in a lawsuit that claimed she was effectively fired by the victor of the 2014 election.

Jurors on Thursday awarded Jeanette McKee $25,000 in compensatory damages and $200,000 in punitive damages against Circuit Clerk Mike Reuter.

McKee had claimed that after her defeat by Reuter, she was moved from her office and demoted from her position as chief deputy clerk and placed in a windowless room, working on microfilm. Reuter later fired her, but she was reinstated by a panel of judges. She was then placed in the traffic department and banned from the main clerk's office, her court filings say. She resigned "under duress," her filings say.

Reuter's lawyers said in court filings that McKee "had difficulties working under the new administration," and Reuter fired her for disruptive behavior. They also said it was not unlawful to fire her for being a candidate who ran against him, and that she suffered no damage, as she immediately got a higher-paying job with the 8th U.S. Court of Appeals.

Read more: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/former-jefferson-county-circuit-clerk-candidate-wins-in-federal-civil/article_a0ab5abc-009e-5960-af1f-c338a4629f3a.html
(St. Louis Post-Dispatch)