A city councilman in Chico has apologized to a federal judge for publicly disclosing confidential settlement information related to ongoing homeless encampment litigation.
Councilman Sean Morgan’s apology – filed in court documents Friday – comes after U.S. Magistrate Judge Kendall Newman last week (Sept. 13) threatened to issue “significant monetary sanctions” against the city and/or Morgan for violating the court’s order governing confidentiality during Morgan’s recent appearance on a local radio program. Newman further noted Morgan disparaged parties in the lawsuit. The judge Sept. 13 ordered the city to show why he shouldn’t issue fines for the violation.
Newman on Monday appeared to decline issuing any fines in the matter. In court documents discharging his Sept. 13 “order to show cause,” Newman noted Morgan’s admission of “negligently divulging certain details” of settlement talks and the councilman’s pledge to avoid doing so in the future.
“The councilperson agreed that if, in the future, he is asked about details of the negotiations, he will respond in the same manner as all other participants: ‘negotiations are ongoing; progress is being made; please be patient,’” according to Newman’s Monday order.
The order did not mention sanctions or fines being levied against the city or Morgan.
Morgan appeared Sept. 9 on a KPAY radio program, discussing the state of a lawsuit filed against the city – Warren v. City of Chico – by a group of unhoused people.
The lawsuit – which was filed in April in U.S. District Court in Sacramento as the city was conducting sweeps of homeless encampments set up in parks and other public spaces – alleges the city’s anticamping ordinances violate the constitutional rights of unhoused people.
U.S. District Judge Morrison England Jr. has since granted a preliminary injunction that bars the city from enforcing its anticamping ordinances against unhoused people while the lawsuit proceeds. England further referred the city and the plaintiffs, represented by Legal Services of Northern California, to Newman for the purpose of settlement discussions.
In the 15-minute radio interview on KPAY, Morgan said the unhoused plaintiffs are holding the city hostage and not negotiating in good faith. He further suggested the city offered in negotiations to move fencing, dumpsters and portable restrooms from the now-closed “temporary resting site” at the Chico airport to Comanche Creek Greenway at the south edge of the city, where a large homeless encampment is set up. Meanwhile, he suggested, the city would work to establish a shelter elsewhere. (Morgan noted city-owned property where Silver Dollar BMX operates at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds would be a likely destination.)
“You know what they say?” Morgan said of the plaintiffs in the radio appearance. “They don’t budge an inch. They ask for more stuff on the other side. This is not a negotiation. This is a hostage situation. That’s what it is. People are going to be just unreal upset that I’m saying this thing. … And we have two choices. We can give them what they want. Or we can take it all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States.”
In the court documents filed Friday, the city said Morgan has no legal training and “made what amounts to a negligent mistake, at most, and did not intend to willfully disobey any court order.”
The city said Morgan intended to discuss a subject of interest to his constituents and not breach confidentiality or upset settlement discussions.
“This is an unusual situation for Mr. Morgan in that he was once able to discuss the issue of homelessness without having to be concerned with protecting settlement negotiations,” according to the documents. “Consequently, it is awkward for Mr. Morgan to speak when, for example, a media outlet wants to know why the airport resting site is being closed.”
In the documents, Morgan signed a declaration in which he states, “I apologize for disclosing any confidential settlement information, and I will not disclose any confidential information again.”
Moving forward, the councilman said, “I understand the only acceptable refrain I may offer to anybody about this case while settlement negotiations are underway is, ‘Negotiations are ongoing; progress is being made; please be patient.’”
The next settlement conference in the case is scheduled for Sept. 27.
Reached for comment via email Monday, Morgan wrote, “Negotiations are ongoing, progress is being made, please be patient.”
