Ex-City Manager Files Claim Over Pension Cut

A former Manhattan Beach city manager whose controversial $139,000-a-year pension was slashed by city officials last year has filed a claim against the city for reducing his benefits, disparaging him in public and causing him emotional distress.

In a statement released Wednesday, the current city manager called the claim, which is a precursor to a lawsuit, “totally without merit.”

David J. Thompson, 62, who retired in May, 1990, after 16 years as city manager, earned $88,968 in salary during his final year. City officials were stunned last May when they discovered that the retirement agreement they approved had artificially inflated his final-year compensation to $237,875 by including unused vacation time and sick leave. Retirement benefits are based on the salary earned during the final year of employment.

Last August, the City Council slashed his pension by $60,000 after concluding that it violated regulations.

In the claim filed last Thursday, Thompson accuses the city of breach of contract, libel and slander, invasion of privacy, misrepresentation, infliction of emotional distress, deceit and fraud. Neither Thompson nor his attorney, Richard A. Shinee of Encino, could be reached for comment Wednesday.

The claim, which seeks unspecified monetary damages greater than $10,000, accuses the city of engaging “in an ongoing media campaign calculated to harm, discredit, embarrass, damage, and humiliate David Thompson in the public’s view.”

In addition, the claim says city officials caused Thompson “shame, humiliation, depression, nervousness and exhaustion.”