Brooklyn Park Council Member Sues Colleagues
Brooklyn Park City Council Member Maria Tran is taking her fellow council members to court for alleged defamation.
She filed a lawsuit against five of her council colleagues after they publicly requested she seek a mental health evaluation.
The lawsuit, which was filed just before Thanksgiving, claims a majority of the council defamed Tran, violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act and open meeting laws, and unlawfully spent public funds.
It also makes claims related to her First Amendment rights.
“I work tirelessly for my constituents not for the other elected officials or city staff,” Tran said in a written statement. “The mayor and a majority of the council members seek to limit debate, weaponize the city’s code of conduct and vilify me for doing my job and serving the people.”
Brooklyn Park Mayor Hollies Winston, as well as Council Members Christian Ericksen, Nichole Klonowski, XP Lee and Tony McGarvey were named in the lawsuit as individuals and in their capacity as council members.
Council Member Boyd Morson, who is leaving the council this winter after losing his seat to 22-year-old Amanda Cheng Xiong in the November election, was not named in the lawsuit. He’s the only member of the council that didn’t sign on to the mental health request sent to Tran.
The lawsuit asks for compensatory damages “in an amount more than $50,000.”
It also requests civil fines against the defendants for violating open meeting law and the Minnesota Human Rights Act.
The council censured Tran for violating the city’s code of conduct policy in June 2024.
Brooklyn Park City Council Member Maria Tran is taking her fellow council members to court for defamation. She’s pictured here taking the oath of office.
Lawsuit Claims
In multiple cases, the lawsuit claims that a majority of the council has attacked Tran for political or personal reasons.
For instance, the city spent $11,000 to hire an outside investigator to consider claims a city staff member brought against Tran.
Saying that decision did not receive council approval, Tran “alleges that the expenditure was not for a valid public purpose and primarily served a personal or political purpose,” the lawsuit states.
Likewise, Tran claims the mental health request was “political and personal in nature and was not related to any legitimate public purpose … the Plaintiff does not suffer from mental illness and has not been diagnosed with mental illness in the past … [and Tran] has suffered damage to her personal reputation, emotional distress and has been stigmatized in other public roles and in her private life as a direct consequence of the defamatory statements.”
See also: Formal Complaint Filed Against Brooklyn Park City Council Member
