Naperville councilman lawsuit coming to close

Naperville City Councilman Richard Furstenau's lawsuit against the city is coming to an official close after a 20-month battle.

Per a judge's orders, the two sides are signing off on a settlement agreement under which Furstenau will drop his federal civil rights suit and those he sued will agree not to try to recoup an estimated $1 million in legal fees.

"The city council always believed that its employees did nothing wrong and they decided to fight that vigorously and they did just that and it ended up in a settlement agreement that is good for all parties," said Terrence Sheahan, an attorney for the city.

Shawn Collins, Furstenau's attorney, said his side was faced with a judge who "didn't like our case" and a legal fight that took longer than anticipated. Before the settlement he could have appealed some of the earlier losses in the case, such as the dismissal of the city from the suit, but Collins said going to the appellate court would have taken another 18 to 24 months.

"Really then the decision comes down to should we appeal or not and that's where Dick decided he didn't want everyone - including himself, his family, the folks at the city, taxpayers - to have to go through this for another two years or more potentially," Collins said Monday.

The case stems from a 2006 incident in which Furstenau was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery after being accused of shoving police officer Mike Hull before a holiday parade.

He later was acquitted but the city denied his request for an apology, discipline of the police officers involved and $129,529 to cover his legal fees and repay contributors to his failed state Senate campaign.

In October 2007, Furstenau filed a federal lawsuit against the city and three police officers, saying the arrest was retaliatory. He later added former City Manager Peter Burchard, police union President Joe Matchett and city attorney Margo Ely to the suit.

But by this spring all except the police officers had been dismissed from the suit and Furstenau was facing a mental exam if he chose to move forward with the case.

The two sides announced a tentative settlement in March that included a provision to release a mutual statement on behalf of the parties and not comment further on the case. But Furstenau wanted that gag order to apply to all city councilmen, which the city rejected.

U.S. District Court Judge Charles Norgle recently ordered the sides to execute the settlement agreement and said not only are councilmen allowed to speak about the case, but so is anyone else who was a party to it.

City officials signed the agreement last week. Furstenau said Monday he will sign it once the two sides draft a mutually agreed upon media statement.

Norgle is then expected to sign off on the request from both parties to dismiss the case.