Denke v. Shoemaker, 2008 MT 418 (2008)

Citation: Denke v. Shoemaker, 2008 MT 418 (2008)
Parent Document: Denke v. Shoemaker, 2008 MT 418 (2008)
Jurisdiction: Montana (state)
Effective Date: 2008-12-16
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/888205/denke-v-shoemaker/ ↗

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¶27 As for the January 19 letter, the examiner entered the following findings. At the time he wrote this letter, Shoemaker knew the terms of the settlement, knew exactly who would receive money under the settlement, knew how much money was contemplated by the settlement, and knew or reasonably should have known that the settlement submitted to the Human Rights Bureau was exactly the settlement he had voted for. Furthermore, he wrote the letter, with the false statements it contained about his knowledge of the settlement, because he wanted a chance to tell citizens during a council meeting that the City had not made a $15,000.00 settlement payment and to repeat his objections to sexual harassment liability law. The examiner *331found that Shoemaker’s question about who received the settlement money contained a “deliberate suggestion” that Denke and the mayor had colluded to obtain a settlement from the City based on a meritless sexual harassment claim and then had split the proceeds. Shoemaker, however, had no factual basis for these insinuations; indeed, he made the statements “with knowledge of their provably false connotations.” In short, Shoemaker wrote the letter in furtherance of his goal of getting on the council meeting agenda to discuss Denke’s Human Rights complaint and the settlement, and he took this action “with retaliatory animus toward Denke.”

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