Six now-former employees of the Collin County district attorney’s office have agreed to drop claims they were subjected to a pattern of intimidation, manipulation, discrimination, retaliation and sexual harassment as part of a $1.75 million settlement agreement.
The deal was struck on Monday and brought an end to the federal lawsuit filed in November accusing Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis and First Assistant District Attorney Bill Wirskye of creating a toxic work environment. The lawsuit was filed by the office’s chief investigator Kim Pickrell, deputy investigator Keith Henslee, prosecutors Fallon LaFleur and Vykim Le and two plaintiffs identified as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2.
Willis and Wirskye have maintained that the claims were false, politically motivated and lodged by disgruntled employees with performance issues.
Both sides have touted the settlement as a win.
Counsel for the plaintiffs declined an interview, but in a statement Jeffrey Simon of Simon Greenstone Panatier praised his clients’ courage “to stand up for themselves, their rights and those of their colleagues.”
Willis’ attorney, Rogge Dunn of Rogge Dunn Group, told The Lawbook that the limit of the county’s insurance policy that will be paying the settlement is $3 million and that this case settled for $1.75 million shows the strength of the defenses.
“The biggest fact that speaks to the strength of our defenses is that three of the plaintiffs have to resign,” he said. “I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen that.”
Willis and Wirskye will remain in their positions.
“This case only settled because an insurance company decided it was cheaper to settle now than pay lawyers to defend the case,” Willis said in a statement.
Another term of the settlement bars the plaintiffs from ever seeking employment with Collin County in the future, Dunn said.
The plaintiffs had alleged Willis treated female employees “as objects that, without their consent, must gratify his sexual impulses and personal vanity.” As for Wirskye’s alleged conduct, the plaintiffs claimed he ran the office like “a crass, misogynistic fraternity complete with systemic hazing of the county’s attorneys, investigators and staff.”
Willis held a press conference not long after the lawsuit was filed where he presented evidence to the media, including hand-written thank you cards from his accusers commending the job he did as their boss and as a mentor.
Additionally, Willis had recorded an encounter with one of his accusers on her last day with the office, prior to the lawsuit being filed, and in the conversation she thanked him for being a good boss and asked if she could give him a hug.
“This was the same plaintiff complaining that he gave her unwanted hugs … and would groan or moan,” Dunn said. “Well, there’s a tape and he’s not groaning and moaning and you’re the one asking for a hug. … That’s powerful evidence he had, and that’s why we thought, given that powerful handwritten evidence and tape recording, that ultimately he would be exonerated.”
“I don’t know — in 40 years of doing these kinds of cases — I don’t know I’ve ever seen so much damaging evidence created by the plaintiffs themselves,” Dunn said.
Additional defendants included Collin County, County Judge Chris Hill and County Commissioners Darrell Hale, Susan Fletcher, Duncan Webb and Cheryl Williams.
The case was before Senior U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater.
The plaintiffs are also represented by Charles E. Soechting Jr., David C. Greenstone and JoDee Lee Neil of Simon Greenstone Panatier and Susan Hutchison and Stanley Rafe Foreman of Hutchison & Foreman.
Collin County is represented by Charles J. Crawford, Lucas Christopher Henry, Marianna M. McGowan and Richard M. Abernathy of Abernathy Roeder Boyd & Joplin.
Willis is also represented by Jennifer Parker Ainsworth of Wilson Robertson & Cornelius.
Wirskye is represented by Robert S. Davis of Flowers Davis.
The case number is 3:22-cv-02425.