A judge has denied a motion to dismiss the $999,999 civil lawsuit that former Baker City Fire Chief Todd Jaynes filed against the city earlier this year.

Baker County Circuit Court Judge Matt Shirtcliff made his ruling in a Nov. 12 letter.

Attorneys for both sides made arguments to the judge on Nov. 1.

Jaynes’ attorney, Richard Slezak, filed the suit on July 6, 2024. City Manager Barry Murphy fired Jaynes in early March.

Kirk Mylander, an attorney for CIS of Tigard, the city’s insurance provider, is representing the city. Mylander filed a motion on Sept. 5 seeking to dismiss the lawsuit.

Mylander argued, both in the motion and during oral arguments Nov. 1, that the five-year employment contract Jaynes signed in July 2023 was not binding because none of the city councilors in office then was still in office when Jaynes was fired.

Mylander also contends that even if the contract was binding, the city did not breach its terms. Mylander pointed out that the contract includes a provision allowing the city to fire Jaynes, without cause, so long as it pays severance. The city paid Jaynes $21,129, equal to three months of his salary, as prescribed in the contract.

In a Dec. 29, 2024, filing, in response to a series of questions from the city’s attorney, Slezak wrote that Jaynes did not receive a severance check from the city.

Slezak counters that the 2023 contract is binding, and that Jon France, who was interim city manager when Jaynes signed the contract, misled Jaynes about the possibility of his being fired and thus induced Jaynes to sign the pact.

During the Nov. 1 hearing, Mylander described Jaynes’ lawsuit as “buyer’s remorse.”

“There’s just no basis for him to argue that he was fraudulently misled,” Mylander said.

In the lawsuit, Slezak wrote that Jaynes had objected to the clause stating that he could be fired without cause. Jaynes signed the deal anyway because France told him the clause was a formality and that Jaynes would have a job for as long as France was city manager, and even longer, if he wanted it.

Slezak wrote in the lawsuit that Jaynes, who moved to Baker City from Jerome, Idaho, “intended this to be his last job before retiring and he needed assurance that he would be employed for at least five years to allow sufficient time for his Oregon PERS retirement benefits to vest.”

Jaynes is seeking $899,999 in economic damages and $100,000 in noneconomic damages. He is asking for a jury trial.

Shirtcliff, in his letter denying Mylander’s motion for dismissal, wrote that there are “material facts at issue” in the lawsuit and as a result dismissal is not appropriate.

The judge didn’t rule about the validity of Jaynes’ complaint, but rather that those “material facts at issue” are sufficient to allow the lawsuit to proceed.