A former veteran prosecutor who accused Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor of firing him, along with four other white colleagues, for racial discrimination walked away from his discrimination case with a one-time payout of $90,000, including his attorney’s fees.
The settlement was announced in court in October, but the financial details were released this week in response to a public records request.
Andrew Newman had been with the Broward State Attorney’s Office for 26 years when Pryor was first elected in 2020 on a promise to ethnically diversify the office’s staff. Newman and four other longtime prosecutors, Tony Loe, Tim Donnelly, Alex Urruela and Ted Daus, were all fired during Pryor’s first months as president.
Only Newman sued, although Urruela later said he sympathized with the lawsuit.
The settlement did not include an admission of wrongdoing, and the prosecution explicitly said Newman’s claims were “not valid.” But under the settlement, both parties agreed that it would be better to resolve the dispute rather than take it to court.
A full trial would have put scores of current and former employees on the stand to answer questions under oath about Pryor’s efforts to balance his diversity promise with the rights of white employees. It would also have forced Newman to defend his job performance.
Newman will receive $43,750 in compensatory damages and $18,750 in back wages. He is responsible for the taxes on those payments. His lawyers will get another $27,500.
In return, Newman agreed to waive any claim he has against the office, according to the settlement.
