Fort Worth City Council members approved up to $100,000 in legal fees for an outside lawyer to represent the city in a complicated whistleblower lawsuit that appeared to have been settled in 2024 for $850,000.
The council, on a motion by member Carlos Flores at their Tuesday meeting, unanimously approved the payment to attorney Courtney Perez of the BakerHostetler firm.
Council members in April 2024 approved what the city then said was an $850,000 settlement with former employee Trisa Crutcher, who had filed a whistleblower suit alleging violations in the Fort Worth Police Crime Lab, where she worked as a forensic scientist…