Fired cop loses state lawsuit

With the dismissal of a state lawsuit March 13, the door shut on a fired Cloquet police officer’s attempts to sue those he blamed for his dismissal.

Scott Holman, a detective and K-9 officer who had worked for the Cloquet police department for 22 years, was fired by the city council in June 2019. Although the city administrator would say only that the dismissal was a “personnel matter,” the action came after the Carlton County attorney’s office identified past misconduct issues for Holman that could affect his ability to be a credible witness in court.

County attorney Lauri Ketola has been a central figure in Holman’s arguments, starting with the arbitration case that he lost in November 2019 and continuing through the state lawsuit dismissed this month.

In the arbitration case, the union argued that Ketola’s decision was flawed and that she had a personal dislike of Holman. Arbitrator Rolland Toenges denied Holman’s grievance, citing 10 points, including the fact that Ketola, as a former member of the Cloquet Citizens Advisory Board — which works with the police department on hirings, firings and disciplinary matters — had direct knowledge of Holman’s work history.

Next came a $4 million lawsuit against the city of Cloquet, Carlton County, Cloquet city councilor Kerry Kolodge and Ketola, filed in January 2020. Holman’s attorney, Mike Padden, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for damages caused by his dismissal from employment, including defamation and “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

In June 2020, Chief U.S. District Court Judge Patrick Schiltz dismissed the claims against both Carlton County and Ketola as its county attorney, because prosecutors are “absolutely immune” to claims arising from the exercise of their legal judgment in assessing witness credibility prior to charging a defendant.

That left claims against Cloquet City Council member Kerry Kolodge, the city of Cloquet, and Ketola — in her role on the Cloquet’s Citizen Advisory Board — still afloat.

Last August, Judge Schiltz dismissed the rest of the lawsuit.

At the same time, the judge dismissed the state law claims included in the lawsuit “without prejudice.” That meant the claims could be refiled in state court in the future.

And they were.

In October 2022, Padden filed a civil lawsuit against Ketola in state court claiming defamation for statements Ketola made in a closed Citizens Advisory Board hearing in January 2018, along with private letters she sent to the city arguing that Holman’s actions deserved more than an oral reprimand. The state case also utilized documents from the federal case, including transcripts of interviews with Holman and Ketola, former Cloquet police commander Carey Ferrell and the closed sessions of the advisory board.

Both sides presented oral arguments in February before Tenth Judicial District Judge Krista K. Martin, who took the matter under advisement. Martin granted a motion for summary judgment dismissal filed by Ketola’s attorney, Jessica E. Schwie.

In her dismissal, Judge Martin wrote that “truth is a complete defense to a defamation claim” and noted the primary statements at issue [Ketola’s comments] were true.

Additionally, the judge pointed out that Ketola’s comments were made as part of the advisory board’s role of assessing police misconduct and in a closed meeting.

“While the parties may not have been on collegial terms, Defendant’s statements were not the product of improper motive or personal animosity: the statements characterized the findings of an independent report and were made within the scope of [the Citizen Advisory Board’s] official duties,” the judge wrote. “When a declarant’s professional responsibilities include the issuance of sanctions, ‘property job performance is not a start point to show actual malice.’”

Martin granted the motion for summary judgment in Ketola’s favor, without damages.