Lopez Hit With Unpayable $1.526M Legal Judgment

The court proceedings involving Montclair City Councilman Ben Lopez, two of the city’s employees and the city itself drew to a close today, closing out with what ostensibly is a judgment leaving Lopez on the hook for $1,526,000 in damages there is virtually no prospect he will ever be in a position to pay.
As unseemly as the allegations contained in two of the cases, even more remarkable is the potential that the way the city distanced itself from Lopez in this matter will create a precedent by which government officials in the future will not be able to utilize taxpayer funds to avoid being held personally accountable for their actions.
The cases against Lopez were chock full of contradictions and a confusing mash of details that defied any simple or cogent description. The two underlying cases filed in 2021 by the city’s director of economic development, Michael Fuentes, and Edmund Garcia, one of the city’s information technology specialists, originally named the city as a defendant along with Lopez. Ostensibly, then, the litigation pitted Fuentes, on one side, against, on the other side, Lopez and the entire weight and substance of the city and its taxpayers and also set up 15 rounds of legal fisticuffs between Garcia, in one corner, against Lopez and the power and authority of the city and its residents in the other corner. As the cases progressed, however, both inside and outside of court, the relationship between Lopez and his city council colleagues and the remainder of City Hall deteriorated, descending into enmity which resulted in the city suing Lopez. Ultimately, it was as much the case that the city made against Lopez that led to the legal victories ultimately scored by Fuentes and Garcia earlier this month than the prosecution of the matter by the common legal team that represented them.
While it was the…