Petersburg Pilot

Judge rules in favor of former

harbormaster and harbor employee

Ryan Long

September 2, 2010.

A Superior Court Judge issued a summary judgment in favor of defendants Jim Stromdahl and George Wallace after a 15-month-long case that included allegations that a city employee had spied on an elected official.

Former City Councilman Bob Nilsen sued Stromdahl and Wallace for over $100,000 in compensatory damages in May of 2009 after hearing from then City Manager Rich Underkofler that Wallace was keeping tabs on him and suspected he may be violating the Open Meetings Act. The court filing listed invasion of privacy and defamation as the reasons for the suit.

Before the case was filed in May of 2009, a letter from Nilsen’s lawyer was inserted in the March 19, 2009 edition of the Petersburg Pilot stating the allegations of breach of the duty of loyalty, invasion of privacy, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

Stromdahl submitted a letter to the editor on April 16, 2009 apologizing to Nilsen, Mayor Al Dwyer, and the rest of the city council.

After the initial letter, the May court filing listed only invasion of privacy and defamation in the suit.
On Monday, Aug. 23, lawyers for the two sides met in the Petersburg Trial Courts to argue the points of a summary judgment. On Friday, Aug. 27, Judge Trevor Stephens ruled in favor of the defendants after finding that Nilsen had not met the burden of proof for allegations of invasion of privacy and defamation.

At one point in the oral arguments, Judge Stephens interrupted Nilsen’s lawyer to ask for clarification of a point made by the prosecution alleging that then councilwoman Melinda Hofstad and Nilsen had seen a dark figure in Wallace’s residence looking at them in Nilsen’s residence.

In the summary judgment, Judge Stephens points out that the pair were doing the same thing they alleged Wallace was doing.

“The court notes that Mr. Nilsen testified that he saw Mr. Wallace watching his house probably fifty times and that each time he (and Ms. Hofstad in the instances she described) saw Mr. Wallace looking at or in his residence he was looking at, and on occasion, into Mr. Wallace’s residence (darkened at times per his statement). So in each instance he did basically the same thing he accuses Mr. Wallace of doing,” the judgment reads.

“The undisputed evidence in the record shows that what Mr. Wallace was observing was who was visiting Mr. Nilsen’s residence. Mr. Nilsen has not claimed that he expected that the identity of his visitors would be a secret. He has not claimed that his visitors came and left his home other than by the normal means of ingress and egress. Those means were also visible to the public from the street. So Mr. Nilsen did not have an expectation of privacy in this regard,” the court document states.

The defense attorney also pointed out that one of the court cases cited by the prosecution stemmed from a case involving a peephole at a KFC restaurant into a restroom. She pointed out that that case was a different category altogether.

Other areas the judge pointed to in the summary judgment included varying testimony over whether or not flash bulbs were seen.

As far as the defamation claims, most conversations about the situation by Wallace were opinions, questions and speculation, the defense attorney pointed out during oral arguments on Monday. The statements were never statements of fact, she explained.

The defense attorney also pointed out that much of Nilsen’s evidence was hearsay.

The judge also pointed out that Nilsen provided testimony with no foundation. For example, he did not testify that he saw Mr. Wallace looking at him or his house through a darkened window. He just provided a vague and conclusory statement.

After the summary judgment was made, Wallace and Nilsen would not comment and Stromdahl did not return phone calls.

According to City Clerk Kathy O’Rear, the City of Petersburg was billed $6,950 by city attorneys for depositions. O’Rear said pay for city employee hours well exceeded $3,500. She added that a June 2010 statement from the city's liability insurance carrier had exceeded $60,000 in defense expenses and the city could be subject to paying an additional deductible of $10,000.

Stromdahl retired as harbormaster in April of 2010, Wallace is still employed with the harbor department and Nilsen’s term as city councilor ended in 2009.