Former Norfolk solicitor suing county and its mayor for a 'toxic work environment'

Norfolk County's former top lawyer is suing the county for more than half a million dollars, with claims including a toxic work environment, her budget being inflated by mysterious credit card payments, and the mayor humiliating her through the local media and Facebook.

Paula Boutis, who served as county solicitor until November 2021, has filed a suit that seeks $71,000 for wrongful dismissal, $300,000 for breach of contract, and $200,000 in punitive damages.

It also seeks $200,000 in damages from Mayor Kristal Chopp, and another $200,000 from former Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Jason Burgess, who now works for the City of Niagara Falls.

In her statement of claim, Boutis describes a toxic environment that included other senior staff hiring external lawyers without her knowledge, and a spreadsheet that she says inflated her budget by $120,000.

She also alleges that Chopp circumvented Boutis's advice by communicating directly with someone who'd mounted a legal challenge against the county — someone who seemed to have more knowledge of council's plans than Boutis did.

Chopp also made a Facebook post and gave a media interview that implied Boutis was bad at her job, the claim says. 

None of the allegations have been tested in court. The county acknowledged the suit in a short statement Tuesday.

"The county and all individual defendants strongly deny the allegations made against the defendants and other individuals mentioned in the statement of claim, none of which have been proven in court," it said.

"All defendants will be responding with a full legal defence in due course."

As for Burgess, he said early Thursday that he hasn't received the filing yet.

"It is clear from published media reports however that opposing counsel was able to conduct media interviews prior to me even getting served, which makes me wonder about the real motivations behind this action especially since this is an election year for municipalities," he said in an email.

"I just hope the media and the readers will put this filing in the appropriate context, which is these are unproven allegations against a number of hard-working civil servants and elected officials who led their community through one of the most difficult periods in this country's history with COVID-19. Unproven allegations from one individual should never be allowed to diminish their efforts or impair their character," he said. 

Boutis's claim says the county was "a toxic and poisoned work environment." She now works for the Toronto firm Aird and Berlis LLP, which until recently was Norfolk's integrity commissioner.

"The plaintiff pleads that the conduct of the individual defendant, Kristal Chopp … was flagrant and outrageous, and was calculated to produce harm which resulted in visible and provable injury," Boutis said in the claim made through Kathryn Marshall of Levitt Sheikh LLP.

The experience, the claim says, included "sidelining," threatening and intimidating her, as well as "demeaning and berating" her.

Marshall said Thursday that Boutis's case is an important one.

It "will set a precedent for how municipalities need to conduct themselves with respect to their employees," she said. 

"My client was treated egregiously and in bad faith and this should never have happened. We look forward to holding the defendants to account and proving our case in court."

County solicitor role was designed to save money

The lawsuit comes at a time of high staff turnover at Norfolk County. Norfolk has had six CAOs and several acting medical officers of health since 2018. The general managers of nearly all county departments have been replaced since then, including some long-time staffers, as well as most of Norfolk's planning department.

In her claim, Boutis says she was hired in September 2019 after the departure of the previous county solicitor — a role created in the hopes that it would be cheaper than hiring outside lawyers. She joined the county despite other offers, the claim says, and she'd been a lawyer for 20 years at the time.

Boutis's claim says because of the staff departures, she also ended up overseeing bylaw enforcement and being the acting general manager of the development and cultural services division.

Boutis says despite the multiple tasks and the need to hire another legal staffer, she was "unsupported" by the county and some other senior leaders.

Broke down in tears

This included last year, the claim says, when a spreadsheet was prepared that Boutis says inflated 2019 legal costs by $120,000 to make her role look more expensive than it was. This includes added integrity commissioner costs, land surveyor costs, "unidentified credit card payments" and the cost of litigation that had been commenced behind her back, the claim says.

She also says that Chopp communicated directly with a farmer who'd mounted a legal challenge against a COVID-19-related bunkhouse rule, despite Boutis warning her that it could interfere with the case.

At one point, the claim says, Boutis was so stressed that she met with the county's most recent CAO and broke down in tears.

Other cases cited in the claim include Boutis consulting with an Indigenous consultant and an expert in First Nations law to draft a land acknowledgement, which a councillor said in open session was full of "factual errors."