The City of Windsor has provided its defence to a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by the former Commissioner of Infrastructure Services and City Engineer.
A statement of defence has been filed in a Toronto court involving Christopher Nepszy. He sued the City in March for terminating him in "bad faith", and creating a hostile work environment.
According to the defence documents obtained by WindsorNewsToday.ca, the City dismissed Nepszy's statement of claim and his allegations that a "culture of corruption" existed at Windsor City Hall.
"The plaintiff's statement of claim, as drafted, is replete with sensationalized and spurious allegations that are deliberately inflammatory crafted in such a way as to ostensibly embarrass the City, various elected officials, and members of the senior leadership team," read the statement of defence.
The City has denied Nepszy's claim of improper termination, stating that Nepszy's firing followed repeated concerns about his work performance. It has also denied that Nepszy was ordered to participate in any "illegal" or "improper" conduct.
Nepszy had claimed that the City coerced him into giving up a position with another municipality to take the Windsor job. The City has refuted that.
"The plaintiff made specific assertions as to why he was interested in pursuing the position at that point in his career and heavily advocated for his candidacy through the regular application process," read the defence statement.
The statement of claim also reported that Nepszy was directed to "keep the mayor happy at all costs", and requested by certain city councillors to waive or void parking tickets. The statement of defence has rejected those claims as well.
Nepszy is seeking almost $1.55-million in damages, including back pay, benefits, and punitive damages.
Toronto employment lawyer Howard Livett told WindsorNewsToday.ca last month that proper compensation was the goal.
"We tried very, very hard to resolve this," said Livett. "Until we went this far, he was prepared to take the amount of money he'd be entitled to as an employee who was lured away from a good, sound, secure job with heavy inducements."
Mayor Drew Dilkens used strong mayor powers to replace Nepszy and Commissioner of Legal and Legislative Services Shelby Askin Hager in November 2023.
The City has retained McTague Law Firm LLP.