Jan. 17—A Flathead County District Court jury on Wednesday awarded damages to the Whitefish Housing Authority’s former executive director after she sued the public entity for defamation.
In finding the housing authority liable, the jury awarded Lori Collins a total of $1.5 million. The sum includes $850,000 for damage to her reputation, $75,000 for lost wages and $575,000 for emotional distress.
The verdict is the result of a lawsuit filed November 2023 against the Whitefish Housing Authority and Collins’ predecessor Dwarne Hawkins, who admitted in a separate case last fall to embezzling at least $100,000 from the organization he was hired to oversee.
Hagadone Montana Publishing, which owns the Daily Inter Lake, was also a defendant in the defamation case, but reached a settlement last year.
Collins’ attorneys argued that Hawkins made defamatory statements in news articles that were published in the Daily Inter Lake and Whitefish Pilot in July 2023 that characterized Collins as unethical. The suit accused the housing authority board of standing by Hawkins’ statements and failing to retract them.
The Daily Inter Lake and Whitefish Pilot published a correction to the news article in November 2023.
In delivering its verdict Wednesday, the jury sent a note to Judge Amy Eddy stating that a “lack of care and professionalism shown to Mrs. Collins from WHA has eroded more public trust than the original situation.”
The jury implored the housing authority “to reconsider the members on its board and the direction of the organization going forward.”
In a statement, Whitefish Housing Authority Acting Director Riss Getts said the organization will reassess its future following the verdict.
“Whitefish Housing Authority’s leadership holds deep respect for the role citizen juries play in our democracy,” Getts said. “We are working to make sense of what Wednesday’s ruling means for us organizationally and in relationship to the greater community. Our mission to provide safe, decent and affordable housing to the people of Whitefish remains unchanged. We will update the public as we develop more clarity about our next steps.”
The authority provides housing options for low-income residents in Whitefish through Section 8 and public housing programs. It is overseen by a board of seven members.
Hawkins was hired as Whitefish Housing Authority’s executive director in January 2023 after Collins resigned. His tenure ended in March 2024.
Housing authority officials say they discovered Hawkins’ alleged fraud following his departure. In October 2024 he pleaded guilty to federal charges of theft from an organization receiving federal funding.
In court documents, the government alleged Hawkins stole housing authority money by diverting and inflating payroll, fraudulently paying personal expenses with the authority’s credit card and creating and paying fraudulent invoices to businesses over which he had control.
Hawkins faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Sentencing in the case is set for Feb. 7.