Dan Wackett isn’t going away without a fight.
The former city of Beaver Dam public works supervisor had his federal lawsuit against the city dismissed last week when United States District Judge William C. Griesbach rejected Wackett’s First Amendment claims with prejudice.
But Griesbach also dismissed state claims without prejudice, meaning Wackett can file a new lawsuit in state court.
Wackett’s attorney, A. Steven Porter, said such a lawsuit will be filed against the city in Dodge County Circuit Court by Dec. 16. Cooper also wouldn’t rule out an appeal of Griesbach’s decision.
“Dan’s very disappointed, obviously,” Porter said. “We felt the evidence was there. We were both disappointed the judge didn’t give us a chance to see if a jury would agree with us.”
Wackett claimed a vendetta against him began in 2003 when he spoke publicly against a board of public works recommendation to purchase a Caterpillar front-end loader which was the highest of three bids. The city council eventually rejected the board’s recommendation, which was approved at one time or another by all four individual defendants, and went on to approve a bid recommended by Wackett.
From that point, Wackett says board members were “out to get him” and overlooked him for the director of public works position several times in favor of less qualified candidates.
Wackett felt he was the victim of retaliation because of his public comments on the matter, but Griesbach said Wackett did not prove his First Amendment rights were violated.
At the heart of the anticipated state lawsuit will be Wackett’s assertion that as DPW supervisor, he was treated unfairly by the city of Beaver Dam and unpaid for work done as the city’s director of public works while the position was unfilled.
“The basis of this suit is they took advantage of Dan, keeping him performing director of public works duties without paying him,” Porter said. “They wouldn’t hire him for the position, but kept him performing those duties for four years. We think that is plain unfair. He did his job plus the director’s job without compensation. They had several hiring efforts during that time, but wouldn’t hire Dan and didn’t hire anybody else.
“They really kept him hanging.”
While the federal lawsuit named several alderpersons in addition to the city of Beaver Dam, the state lawsuit is expected to name the municipality as the lone defendant. And while the federal lawsuit required a proof of motive on the part of the named alderpersons, a state suit only requires Wackett prove he was compensated unfairly.
Wackett is expected to ask for lost back salary, future salary, other lost earnings and benefits, plus interest.
dbaulch@capitalnewspapers.com