Negligence lawsuit, countersuit involving KCK official resolved. What’s the outcome?
A negligence lawsuit between a Wyandotte County commissioner and a KCK resident has been settled after nearly a year of back and forth.
Amanda Watson, a dressmaker in Kansas City, Kansas, filed suit in August against Sixth District Commissioner Phil Lopez over an incident involving his business, Arboles Tree Trimming.
Watson, who represented herself, and Lopez, represented by attorneys, reached a settlement agreement to drop all claims between each other in exchange for financial payments made to each party. The notice of settlement included in the court record did not specify what amounts were paid to each person.
When she first filed the lawsuit, Watson alleged that an employee of Lopez encouraged her young son to feed branches through a wood chipper, something she said could have put the child’s safety at risk. The child was not injured.
Watson said the employee also dropped tree branches on her home while trimming nearby, and they damaged her roof, something she told The Star threatened her family’s health and safety as they waited on repairs. She also accused Lopez of using his position as a commissioner to offer her small business loans in order to avoid having to file an insurance claim over the incident. But a day before voters were to decide whether to promote Lopez to an at-large seat on the Unified Government Board of Commissioners, Watson removed several allegations from her lawsuit. The petition that initially accused Lopez of political bribery, intentional evasion of the insurance process, property damage and child endangerment was narrowed to negligence and emotional distress.
Watson changed the petition after former Wyandotte County District Judge Constance Alvey instructed her to amend and refile the suit, given it included an unclear mix of civil and criminal allegations. A lawsuit in civil court must contain only civil claims.
Royal Estates Mobile Home Park, where Watson lived, was also a defendant in the case. Watson accused the park of the negligent hiring of Lopez’s business. Alvey dismissed claims against the mobile home park altogether, according to court records.
Property damages, medical claims and a lost election
Watson experienced more than $53,576 in economic damages after the incident with Lopez’s business, according to court records.
Damages included loss of her mobile home, having to replace belongings that were contaminated by mold that accumulated into the home due to the roof damage, medical care for an injury that happened while Watson tried to seal off the roof from rain intrusion and treatment for mold-related illness, according to court records.
“Physical Pain and Emotional Distress: Resulting from the (sic) physical illness caused by mold exposure to three minor children who were born prematurely and suffer from asthma and the plaintiff has asthma,” court documents read. “And the emotional burden of attempting to remediate hazardous environment and caring for minor children while physically ill and physically incapacitated.”
Lopez ultimately lost the District 2 At-Large seat to his opponent Andrew Kump by about 1,000 votes. He later countersued Watson, saying she intentionally abused the legal process to defame him and harm his political campaign, something he said caused that election loss.
That countersuit claimed that Watson’s willingness to speak with The Star about the legal dispute harmed his reputation and cost him the seat.
The lawsuit settlement
After parties reached a settlement agreement, Watson told The Star that her family has suffered significantly through the process, and that they decided to call it quits with the lawsuit. She declined to comment further, saying she didn’t want to reopen the topic.
Lopez’s attorney, Mark Molhner, sent the newspaper a statement approved by Lopez. It criticized Watson’s use of artificial intelligence, something the court eventually told her she couldn’t utilize when representing herself, to draft some of her court documents.
“It is unfortunate that Ms. Watson relied upon Artificial Intelligence to create false and misleading allegations about Mr. Lopez rather than to hire an attorney to evaluate whether she had a case to begin with.” according to that statement.
“When it became obvious that an eventual victory in court against Ms. Watson would only serve to bankrupt her, we made the decision to resolve the lawsuit for nominal sums of money, so everyone involved could move on with their lives,” it said.
