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Trials & Litigation

Appeals court OKs $3M whistleblower award to fired university attorney

An Illinois appellate court on Wednesday OK’d a $3 million whistleblower award to a former Chicago State University attorney who said he was fired and discredited because he insisted on following the law.

With accrued interest, the award will be closer to $5 million, reports the Chicago Tribune (reg. req.). Although Chicago State is struggling financially due to state budget woes, insurance is likely to cover the award.

Attorney and administrator James Crowley was the target of “a campaign designed to both economically harm … and inflict psychological distress,” a unanimous three-judge appellate panel said, after he refused to withhold material about the university’s then-president under Illinois open-records law. Also at issue, according to Crowley, were questionable Chicago State contracts he reported to the Illinois attorney general’s office.

A Cook County jury in 2014 found Chicago State liable in the first whistleblower verdict awarded under a state ethics law that applies to government employees, the newspaper reports. He is presently working a temporary job as a document reviewer.

As the ethics law allows, Cook County Judge James McCarthy, who presided over the trial, later doubled the jury’s $480,000 back pay award. That brought the total compensatory damages to more than $1 million with interest. Another $2 million in punitive damages was also included in the award.

The Tribune says McCarthy also ordered that Crowley be reinstated to his $120,000-a-year position.

“The university is disappointed in today’s ruling upholding the unprecedented level of punitive damages awarded in this case,” said Chicago State in a written statement provided to the newspaper. “We will immediately move to appeal this decision to the state supreme court.

“The main issue of contention in this case is the question of the large punitive awards, and the question is an important one,” the statement continues. “Under the current act, the question of punitive damages has not been settled by the highest court and we look forward to making our case.”

A former Chicago State president and the university’s board of trustees also were named defendants.

Related coverage:

ABAJournal.com: “Lawyer wins $2.5M in whistleblower claim against university”