Jury selection in McDonald’s suit against city begins Tuesday

Jury selection begins Tuesday in a $500,000 civil suit against the city by former Community Services Director Marty McDonald.

McDonald was placed on administrative leave by the city in May 2009, one day before being indicted on two felony charges stemming from the alleged misuse of a city FedEx shipping discount used to mail goods. He was terminated August 2009.

However, those charges were dropped when McDonald produced an email showing he requested his personal FedEx account be removed from the city’s prior to doing any shipping.

The suit arose nearly four months after McDonald and his attorney, Clair William Lane, filed a notice of claim against the city seeking $500,000 in damages and attorney fees.

McDonald’s suit against the city alleges “malicious prosecution,” “abuse of process,” “negligence,” “intentional infliction of emotional distress,” and “invasion of privacy.”

“Civil litigation commences next Tuesday in Florence,” Lane said. “This is the civil case, not the criminal matter. The criminal case was postponed until after the civil.”

Lane said he would not comment further. “Let a jury decide who is wrong in the case,” he said.

The criminal case expected to come to trial in the spring is not related to the civil case that begins Tuesday.