This story was updated after publication with details on the settlement amount.

After a two-year legal battle, the city of Richmond has agreed to settle an employment lawsuit brought by former Freedom of Information Act Officer Connie Clay.

A written statement from Chief Administrative Officer Odie Donald II said the city will pay Clay to settle the matter, in addition to covering “a portion” of her attorneys’ fees of costs.

The statement did not say how much money the city agreed to pay, but a city spokesperson later said the amount was $549,000. A private law firm handling the case on the city's behalf has billed nearly $700,000 for its services.

When the lawsuit was first filed, Clay was seeking $250,000 in damages

“While the City has consistently maintained that the facts of this case did not meet the legal requirements necessary to qualify the Plaintiff as a whistleblower under Virginia law, continued litigation is not in the best financial interest of the City or its residents,” Donald said in his statement. “As such, we have agreed to resolve the case through a negotiated settlement.”

Donald said the settlement is “in no way an admission of wrongdoing.”

Clay sued the city in early 2024 after she was fired from her job handling requests for public records. She claims the firing was unlawful retaliation after she spoke up about the city’s failures to follow Virginia FOIA law, but the city argued she was fired for being bad at the job and clashing with co-workers. Clay said her complaints about the FOIA process made her a government whistleblower, a status that would have given her legal protection against being fired.

The case has now ended without that question being resolved in court, and both sides were tight-lipped about the settlement.

“This matter has been amicably resolved,” said Clay’s attorney Sarah Robb, a partner with the Shelley & Schulte firm. Robb declined to comment further.

Clay's other lawyer, Tom Wolf, gave an identical statement, an indication the deal restricts what Clay's team can say on the matter.

It's not uncommon for legal settlements to include confidentiality provisions, but Virginia law requires financial details to be made public when government funds are involved.

In FOIA officer case, judge grills city’s lawyers over lack of candor on missing phone

A court hearing in the case this week was as testy as ever.

The RichmonderGraham Moomaw

The legal wrangling in the case has been unusually hostile.

During the evidence discovery process, Clay’s team accused the city of stonewalling, resisting requests for documents and refusing to give straight answers. The city brought in outside lawyers from the Ogletree Deakins law firm to lead its defense. The Ogletree team accused Clay’s attorneys of wasting resources through a never-ending search for proof that can’t be found because it doesn’t exist.

Circuit Court Judge Claire G. Cardwell chastised both sides for letting personal animosity seep into the case. But the judge was particularly critical of Ogletree attorney Jimmy F. Robinson Jr., saying he had shown a “lack of candor” with the court by making statements she deemed to be untrue. Robinson strongly objected to the judge's comments, and filed multiple court documents on the city's behalf claiming Cardwell had unfairly smeared him by suggesting there had been a lack of honesty.

The judge also faulted the city for failing to be upfront about the disappearance of a key city-issued cell phone that could have held evidence in the case. Cardwell took the unusual step of approving an instruction for potential jurors that would have informed them about the lost phone and given them permission to assume that it contained evidence that was unfavorable to the city.

Richmond’s lawyers told a judge a phone was lost in an airport. City documents show it might have been found

The newly released records show other officials asked multiple times if Burks had gotten the phone back.

The RichmonderGraham Moomaw

The case had been set to go to trial in June, but the settlement means that will no longer happen and the litigation will wind down once the judge approves the deal.

The city initially appeared reluctant to disclose the amount of the settlement, but provided it several hours after the initial news release went out.

At an unrelated event Friday morning before the Clay settlement was announced, Avula and his team discussed their views on the broader issue of transparency in legal settlements.

Avula was rolling out a plan to publish more city financial data online, and a document summarizing his plan indicated that legal settlements should not be published because they are "sensitive/confidential."

Asked why the public shouldn't know how much money the city is paying out to settle a lawsuit, Avula advisor Sarah Carpenter said the dollar amount should be discoverable through FOIA.

The mayor then said confidentiality rules are sometimes "dictated by the court."

"If the courts dictate that, then our response would be we can't provide it," Avula said.

"Not even just the dollar amount?" The Richmonder asked.

"I'd have to talk to lawyers," the mayor replied.

Contact Reporter Graham Moomaw at gmoomaw@richmonder.org