The Minnesota Court of Appeals is approaching a decision regarding Brooklyn Park City Council Member Maria Tran\u2019s lawsuit against the city itself, the mayor and Tran’s council colleagues. Months after a Hennepin County Court judge dismissed the case with prejudice, the higher court heard oral arguments July 15 from legal counsel for both sides.<\/p>\n
Tran\u2019s case aims multiple counts of misconduct toward Mayor Hollies Winston, as well as 2023-2024 council members Christian Eriksen, Nichole Klonowski, XP Lee and Tony McGarvey. Tran argues that her peers violated her rights, unlawfully spent public funds, violated Minnesota\u2019s open meeting law and engaged in defamation. The lawsuit also claims the city of Brooklyn Park itself engaged in discrimination.<\/p>\n
Tran brought in a new lawyer, Marshall Tanick, to file her lawsuit in the Minnesota Court of Appeals late last year. He opened his 15-minute oral argument by describing Tran as a \u201cVietnamese native who has overcome many obstacles in her life\u201d to join the Brooklyn Park City Council. \u201cBut she has encountered more challenges there, and that’s why we’re here today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Tanick asked the higher court to reconsider multiple aspects of Judge Bridget Sullivan\u2019s November ruling. He described Tran\u2019s 2024 censure as the \u201cmost sensitive and most important issue\u201d to the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis case, as the court is aware, concerns a number of issues and claims raised by Ms. Tran, highlighted by defamation and what we feel is an unlawful censure and sanctions imposed upon her,\u201d Tanick said.<\/p>\n
The appeals court judges highlighted the lower court\u2019s ruling that Brooklyn Park’s Code of Conduct for Elected Officials, upon which the censure was based, was constitutionally protected and therefore did not violate Tran\u2019s first amendment rights. Judge Anne Rasmusson asked Tanick to describe the lower court\u2019s reasoning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, its reasoning was that the censure was appropriate under the circumstances,\u201d Tanick replied. He then noted that the higher court could \u201cavoid the constitutional issues altogether\u201d by ruling the censure was not appropriate based on the city\u2019s Code of Conduct.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe code itself, under which the censure was purportedly administered, does not provide for censure for statements made by an elected official at a public council meeting,\u201d Tanick said.<\/p>\n
Tran\u2019s censure stemmed from a complaint filed in January 2024, when a city staff member accused her of violating Brooklyn Park’s Respectful Workplace Policy and the Code of Conduct for Elected Officials. An investigator hired by the city determined that Tran “unfairly criticized” the employee’s work performance.<\/p>\n
The council originally planned to issue a formal reprimand to Tran at a May 2024 meeting, but Tran made statements that doubled down on her assertions and verbally argued with her council colleagues. The meeting adjourned early, and the proposed reprimand was later upgraded to a censure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is nothing in the code that authorizes a censure for statements made at a public meeting, and in this case, the record is clear that the censure was imposed for one and only one reason\u2026 It says, \u2018the reason we’re imposing the censure is because of Ms. Tran’s statements during the council meeting of May 28,\u201d Tanick argued.<\/p>\n
Paul Reuvers, the attorney representing the defendants, opened his own 15 minutes by asking the judges to affirm the lower court\u2019s ruling. He went on to highlight other claims that Tran has made, many of which resurfaced throughout court proceedings last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe record is replete with just these bizarre allegations of the conspiracy perpetrated against her by staff, city council members, the police chief, Brooklyn Park Police Department, the media,\u201d he said. \u201cFrankly, just bizarre stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reuvers argued the lower court was not asked to rule on the censure itself, but rather the legality of the Code of Conduct as a whole \u201dWe view the policy as fully constitutional,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Tanick has claimed the Code of Conduct is “unconstitutionally overbroad\u201d and restricts free speech by disallowing elected officials to publicly criticise city staff. Reuvers was asked to address that argument.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe the city has the ability to implement rules and regulations so we can work efficiently, and it’s common for municipal governments to have rules of conduct in my experience,\u201d Reuvers replied. \u201cThere are alternative paths for Ms. Tran to approach the city manager with any issue and to address any concern she has appropriately that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a five-minute rebuttal from Tanick, the Court of Appeals thanked the legal counsel for both sides and noted the matter was \u201cfully submitted.\u201d A decision must be reached within 90 days of the oral arguments, meaning the court\u2019s ruling could be announced as late as mid-October.<\/p>\n
If either side is dissatisfied with the appellate judges\u2019 ruling, the next stop for the case would be the Minnesota Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
Court document details<\/p>\n
Various documents have been filed with the Court of Appeals in the months leading up to oral arguments.<\/p>\n
Those filed by Reuvers repeatedly detail instances in which Tran voiced concern that various city officials and her former campaign worker wanted to physically harm or kill her.<\/p>\n
Tran brought multiple allegations to the Minnesota Adult Abuse Reporting Center in September 2023. According to Reuvers, Tran accused the mayor of \u201cillegally obtaining licenses for marijuana,\u201d and said, \u201che was abusing her because the city manager was trying to hide what Tran reported\u201d about misuse of public funds and other illegal activity. Reuvers noted that Tran\u2019s MAARC report was found to be unsubstantiated.<\/p>\n
Tran’s lawsuit claims her fellow council members violated the Minnesota Open Meeting Law when they convened for a closed meeting to discuss the investigation. Reuvers argues that the meeting was required to be closed under that same law. He claims that Tran voted in favor of holding the closed meeting and that she did not voice any objection to a proposed written reprimand.<\/p>\n
Council Member Boyd Morson, who was not included in Tran’s lawsuit, cast the sole vote against closing the meeting.<\/p>\n
Tran\u2019s lawsuit alleges that multiple comments made by her council peers constituted defamation. The following were highlighted in particular: the statement that Tran has acknowledged her violation of the Code of Conduct; various statements made by the mayor and council members implying that Tran is mentally ill or dangerous; and various statements that Tran posed a safety concern in council chambers.<\/p>\n
Reuvers argues that \u201cTran\u2019s bizarre behavior took a dark and disturbing turn\u201d when she called the Brooklyn Park Police Department to inquire about obtaining a gun permit in September 2024. According to testimony from Sergeant Derek Zielin, Tran did not want to provide her address as part of the permit application out of concern other council members would come to her home and assault her.<\/p>\n
Documents filed by Tanick, meanwhile, refute the rulings of the lower court.<\/p>\n
Tanick claims the closed meeting violated state statute because the topic of discussion, an investigative report about Tran, constituted “public data” under the Data Practices Act.<\/p>\n
Tanick also argues that \u201cstatements implying a lack of mental competence\u201d are not \u201cconstitutionally protected statements of opinion,\u201d as the lower court ruled. As for Tran\u2019s claim that certain actions against her violated the Human Rights Act, Tanick reiterates that the mayor and council members \u201cregarded\u201d her as having a disability.<\/p>\n
Further, Tanick claims that Tran\u2019s rights were violated when she was censured, as it resulted in \u201csevere and unprecedented restrictions on her duties as an elected official.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tanick ultimately asks the appeals court to reverse the lower court\u2019s decision and to bring the lawsuit to trial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Minnesota Court of Appeals is approaching a decision regarding Brooklyn Park City Council Member Maria Tran\u2019s lawsuit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[114204,36632,114210,114208,98,100,99,5796,111202,7902,111203,39457,29032,114209,114198,113007,29360,5112,91,61314,41770,114212,114200,66560,114199,1092,5800,114201,114205,114206,39479,9,24,114207,63,16404,114213,52019,114211,114214,13486,114203,89215,114202],"class_list":["post-300969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-anne-rasmusson","tag-attorney","tag-boyd-morson","tag-bridget-sullivan","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-brooklyn-park","tag-brooklyn-park-city-council","tag-brooklyn-park-police-department","tag-christian-eriksen","tag-city-manager","tag-council-member","tag-derek-zielin","tag-hennepin-county-court","tag-hollies-winston","tag-investigator","tag-judge","tag-lawyer","tag-lee","tag-legal-counsel","tag-legal-counsel-for-both-sides","tag-maria-tran","tag-marshall","tag-marshall-tanick","tag-mayor","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-adult-abuse-reporting-center","tag-minnesota-court-of-appeals","tag-minnesota-supreme-court","tag-mne","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nichole-klonowski","tag-nyc","tag-official","tag-open-meeting-law","tag-oral-argument","tag-paul-reuvers","tag-police-chief","tag-sergeant","tag-tony-mcgarvey","tag-vietnam","tag-xp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}