A federal judge on Friday scheduled the jury trial to begin at 9 a.m. Sept. 16 in a lawsuit Topeka police administrators Colleen Stuart, Jana Kizzar and Jennifer Cross are pursuing against the city and former police chief Bryan Wheeles.
U.S. District Court Judge John W. Broomes also issued a scheduling order that also included plans for a pretrial hearing in the gender discrimination suit to be held at 9 a.m. Sept. 10 in the federal courthouse in Wichita.
The location at which the trial will take place still hadn't been set as of Monday, court records said.
They indicated Broomes still has yet to rule on a motion the city and Wheeles filed in January seeking summary judgment in the case in their favor without a trial.
What does the lawsuit allege?
Attorneys representing Stuart, Kizzar and Cross — who remained Monday with the Topeka department — filed a three-count federal civil suit in January 2023 in U.S. District Court.
Kizzar went by the last name "Harden" at the time but has since married.
The suit alleges the city "treats female officers differently than male officers to the detriment of those female officers and the department."
It contends the city passed the three over for promotion because they are female.
The three are asking for more than $7 million in damages between the three of them, plus whatever amount a jury may decide to award for punitive damages they are seeking. They're also seeking payment for attorney's fees, which a pretrial order said totaled $518,155 as of December 2023.
Both sides are asking for a jury trial, which is expected to last about 10 days.
Wheeles and the city have asked that the trial be held in Topeka. Stuart, Kizzar and Cross asked that it be held in Kansas City, Kansas.
Have any of the three officers been promoted since the suit was filed?
When the lawsuit was first filed, Kizzar and Stuart were Topeka police captains and Cross was a lieutenant.
The city effective April 1, 2023, promoted Kizzar to major and Cross to the captain's position being vacated by Kizzar.
The three consider those to be "sham promotions," made only because they sued the city, according to a pretrial order issued in the case last December.
Wheeles retired as Topeka police chief effective July 1. Deputy police chief Jamey Haltom is serving as interim chief until the city fills the chief's position on a long-term basis.
Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett. com or 785-213-5934.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Trial date set in discrimination suit by 3 female Topeka police administrators
Most Popular
Comments / 0