CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The long and expensive legal battle in the case of retaliation within the Charlotte Fire Department may finally be over.
Channel 9 began reporting on Crystal Eschert's battle with city's Fire Department in December of 2014.
Now, the city is settling, according to sources.
Eschert was a former arson investigator who was fired because the fire chief said it was over a controversial social media post.
Eschert claimed it was retaliation because she raised safety concerns about a Charlotte Fire Department building.
She sued and won, but that still didn't close the case. The city appealed and kept racking up legal bills.
The city will pay more than $1.1 million, which includes $64,000 in back pay, $442,000 in damages and interest and $628,000 in attorney fees.
That doesn't include the money the city spent on outside lawyers and investigations into the department.
Anchor Allison Latos investigated the controversy and cost of this case, along with other questions of diversity among the fire department's top brass and questionable spending by former fire Chief Jon Hannan.
All of this happened before Hannan's retirement in August.
Interim Chief Pete Key took over last month.
With attorney fees for the city's investigation into the Eschert case and a review of Fire Department policies, the total is more than $1.9 million of taxpayers’ dollars.
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