Lake Forest Mayor Voigts Defends Non-Disclosure of Lawsuit

LAKE FOREST, CA - The mayor of Lake Forest was on the defense at a recent City Council meeting, called on to explain why a lawsuit he filed never appeared on a council agenda for the public to see, according to a report from the Orange County Register. Mayor Scott Voigts attempted to explain why the resulting payout never was made public during the session.

Voigts was forced to disclose to the public—via a July city council meeting—about a lawsuit he filed in early 2019 and the $135,000 payout he received. Both were due to an injury he said he experienced in 2018. He described falling out of his wheelchair after sliding over an uneven portion of the public sidewalk and broke his femur, according to the Register.

Another payout of $15,000 went to his wife after she claimed emotional distress and suffered a physical injury herself after the incident. Those experiences caused her to miss work, according to the article.

Voigts spoke on the issue after some Lake Forest residents learned of the lawsuit and subsequent payout, then asked why those items were never made public on a City Council agenda during the council meeting.

Lake Forest City Attorney Matthew Richardson addressed the public's concerns, saying that injury claims —by any citizens of Lake Forest—are always handled exclusively through the city’s insurance provider, the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority, not the City Council or city attorney.

Read the full report in the Orange County Register.