Deal with KCTCS pays Gastenveld $250,000 [Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.]

Nov. 29--The Kentucky Community and Technical College System has paid former Owensboro Community & Technical College President Paula Gastenveld$250,000 in a compromise settlement of a lawsuit that has been winding up for trial for more than two years.

Gastenveld's lawsuit basically claims that she was the target of a civil conspiracy involving public officials and high-profile local and state higher education personnel that led to her dismissal in late May 2009.

She sued her employer, KCTCS, and 10 defendants in Woodford Circuit Court

The latest settlement means that Gastenveld released KCTCS, President Michael McCall, OCTC vice presidents Kevin Beardmore and Cindy Fiorella, and OCTC faculty and staffers Michael and Vicki Boyd, as defendants. She will not continue to pursue her case that says they played a role in interfering with her contract and defaming her, among other claims.

The agreement is not an admission of guilt or liability, according to the document.

Other defendants in the case were: Reid Haire, then-Daviess County Judge-Executive; Nick Brake, the president of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp.; David Johnson, Owensboro city commissioner; John Hager, philanthropist and former newspaper publisher; and Peggy Howard, then OCTC's Allied Health Division chairwoman and professor in surgical technology.

All of the defendants denied Gastenveld's claims.

Howard was dismissed from the suit early in the discovery stage. She died May 7 after battling cancer.

Gastenveld has settled all claims with all defendants except Hager.

Gastenveld also claims that she was targeted for blowing the whistle on suspected illegalities in a local welding project that used funds from the Kentucky WINS -- Workforce Investment Network System. WINS is a state program through KCTCS that provides education, training and support to new and existing businesses and industries.

McCall removed Gastenveld as president of Owensboro Community & Technical College at the end of May 2009 after she had served two years on her three-year contract. She was reassigned to the system's office in Versailles.

Gastenveld filed the civil lawsuit in August of 2009.

She also has received $15,000 from Brake's insurance company in that settlement.

Brake was dismissed from the case last spring, but at that time he declined to tell the newspaper the amount of the settlement. The Messenger-Inquirer received the KCTCS and Brake settlement documents after filing open records requests with the defendants.

Last spring, Johnson's insurance company paid Gastenveld $5,000, and he was dismissed from the suit.

Haire's insurance company reached a $2,500 settlement for him.

Brake, Johnson and Haire said the settlements did not indicate any admission of guilt. They settled to prevent any prolonged litigation and expensive legal fees.

One of the key documents in the case, "Qualifications for the Presidency of Owensboro Community & Technical College Versus the Reality," was circulated on campus and given to McCall and OCTC board members. Beardmore said he compiled it with input from Fiorella and other administrators and staff. It laid out what they said were examples of Gastenveld's leadership and behavior compared to the qualities desired for OCTC president. Beardmore, Fiorella and others met with McCall and gave him a copy of the document

Haire, Brake and Johnson also met with McCall during the campus turmoil.

Hager wrote a letter to McCall outlining his concerns with Gastenveld's handling of a contribution his family made to the OCTC Foundation.

Hager's attorneys deny Gastenveld's claims that his letter defamed her, interfered with her contract and rose to the level of tortuous, outrageous conduct.

The KCTCS settlement document states that the $250,000 is being paid to Gastenveld for claims of emotional distress as well as attorney's fees and costs.

Paying the claim is not an admission of the defendants' liability and "is made solely in order to compromise a disputed claim for the purpose of avoiding further controversy or litigation and the associated costs with same," according the the settlement.

KCTCS also "expressly denies any violation of any policies or procedures or violation of any local, state or federal laws or regulations," the document states.

And the settlement also doesn't mean there has been a judgment in the case.

Gastenveld also agreed not to file another lawsuit in any court or initiate any proceeding against the defendants with a state or federal agency in which she makes the same claims.

The parties also agreed not to talk about the settlement or the details of the lawsuit.

Attorney Stephen G. Amato of McBrayer, McGinnis, Leslie and Kirkland in Lexington said in an email that his clients, Beardmore and Fiorella, were pleased that the matter had been concluded and is now behind them.

KCTCS paid $100,000 in legal fees in the Gastenveld case, which was the retention limit of the insurance policy the system maintained at the time of the claim. Litigation costs in excess of $100,000 were covered by the policy.

<p>KCTCS also has an ongoing civil case against the Messenger-Inquirer in Woodford Circuit Court.

The Messenger-Inquirer has been seeking evaluations of Gastenveld, Beardmore and Fiorella as well as Fiorella's performance improvement plan through the Open Records Act. KCTCS denied those requests.

The Kentucky Attorney General's Office agreed with the newspaper, but KCTCS appealed to Woodford Circuit Court to keep from releasing the documents. The judge ruled for the newspaper -- stating that the public's interests outweigh the privacy interests of the defendants.

KCTCS agreed to turn over Gastenveld's evaluation, but it has taken its case to the Court of Appeals to keep from releasing the Beardmore and Fiorella documents. No decision has been made in that case.

KCTCS has spent $39,130.68 (billed through October) in the open records case.

Gastenveld worked through the year left on her contract and left KCTCS in June 2010. She has been working at the John H. Daniel Campus of Southside Virginia Community College near Keysville, Va. since July 15, 2010.

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