A former veteran prosecutor who accused Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor of firing him, along with four other white colleagues, in an act of racial discrimination walked away from his discrimination lawsuit with a one-time $90,000 payout, including his attorney’s fees.
The settlement was announced in court in October, but the financial details were released this week in response to a public records request.
Andrew Newman had been with the Broward State Attorney’s Office for 26 years when Pryor was first elected in 2020 with a promise to ethnically diversify the agency’s staff. Newman and four other long-time prosecutors, Tony Loe, Tim Donnelly, Alex Urruela and Ted Daus, were all dismissed during Pryor’s first months in office.
Only Newman sued, though Urruela later said he sympathized with the lawsuit.
The settlement included no admission of wrongdoing, and the State Attorney’s Office explicitly said Newman’s claims were “not valid.” But, according to the settlement, both sides agreed it would be better to resolve the dispute than bring it to court.
A full-blown trial would have put numerous current and former employees on the stand to answer questions under oath about Pryor’s efforts to balance his promise of diversity with the rights of white employees. It would also have forced Newman to defend his job performance.
Newman gets $43,750 in compensatory damages and $18,750 in back pay. He is responsible for taxes on those payments. His lawyers get an additional $27,500.
In return, according to the settlement, Newman agreed to waive any claim he has against the office.