Fresno councilmember says rival must pay city costs after ‘bogus’ lawsuit dropped

Fresno City Councilmember Gary Bredefeld on Monday afternoon said he would seek to force council President Nelson Esparza to reimburse the City of Fresno for any legal fees incurred in what he called a “bogus” defamation lawsuit filed by Esparza against Bredefeld.

Bredefeld made his comments after Esparza earlier Monday said he was withdrawing the defamation lawsuit against Bredefeld, although he believed he would prevail in court.

It is the latest back and forth between Bredefeld and Esparza following a news conference in May in which Bredefeld accused the council president of extorting then-City Attorney Doug Sloan.

Bredefeld said Esparza had threatened Sloan in a private meeting the month before and had ultimately caused him to leave his position with the city. “This was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Bredefeld said at the time. “This is why he left the city and sought another job.”

Sloan has shared details of a conversation he had with Esparza in which the council president said he was standing between Sloan and losing his job and that Sloan was to “work only for the Council majority.” That message had been relayed to several people, but never intended to become public, Sloan said. For his part, Esparza denied the allegations, eventually filing the defamation suit, which accused Bredefeld of “knowingly making false allegations.”

Esparza said he was withdrawing the suit because “I love our city and will not sue ... over my colleague’s defamatory remarks. His antics have already cost enough taxpayer dollars. For this reason, I am making the responsible decision to withdraw my suit so that we as a body can heal and move forward.”

Bredefeld dismissed Esparza’s motives.

“That’s rich, coming from Esparza,” he said.

“All the expenses have already been incurred. Now, we were just waiting for the judge’s ruling on Wednesday. My lawyer will be filing a motion to have Esparza reimburse the City of Fresno for all the money incurred in this bogus lawsuit, and I expect it will be granted.”

Bredefeld also ridiculed Esparza’s concern for taxpayer money by attacking an Esparza-supported proposal to hike council members by nearly 70 percent, and distributed what he said was a list of Esparza’s credit expenses, totaling more that $100,000.

Bredefeld previously criticized four council rivals, Esparza, Miguel Arias, Tyler Maxwell and Esmeralda Soria, for their use of city credit cards. Those council members have defended the expenditures, with Esparza calling his allegations a “political witch hunt.”