The teacher claims that the lawyer deceived her

TACOMA. A teacher whose discrimination lawsuit against Tacoma Public Schools was settled for $3,000 is now suing the former Pierce County Superior Court judge who represented her, alleging fraud and breach of contract.

Betty Williams, a black woman in her 70s, accused TPS of failing her for jobs because of her age, race and gender. In a lawsuit filed this week, Williams alleged that her attorney in the case, Beverly Grant, and Grant’s law firm illegally took money from her.

At issue is that Grant allegedly agreed to receive 40 percent of the money recovered in the civil case or otherwise not collect attorney’s fees if the case does not result in a monetary award or settlement, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in Pierce. County Superior Court and award agreement attached to complaint.

There was no hourly attorney’s fee for Grant under the contract, the complaint said.

Williams put $10,000 into a trust fund to be used to offset representation expenses as they arise, including items such as office supplies, court filing fees and deposition costs, according to the fee agreement. Grant is accused of converting $10,000 from the trust fund into hourly attorney fees and getting Williams to agree to the charges.

Grant, who represented Williams between 2021 and 2024, was prohibited from seeking her client’s consent to such an action, allegedly because it was fraudulent and against the client’s best interests, the complaint said, adding that the consent was void and unenforceable.

In an August invoice memo — both of which were attached to the complaint — Grant told Williams she had put 66 hours into the case, which equates to more than $34,000. According to the memo, Williams allegedly agreed to pay $10,000 in attorney fees and was reimbursed $2,592 because she paid $12,592.

Grant said by phone Wednesday that she was at a family memorial out of state and would see if she could meet The News Tribune’s 5 p.m. deadline to comment on the allegations. Grant ultimately did not provide comment to The News Tribune, and an email request to her and her firm on Wednesday was not returned.

The complaint says Grant and her firm downplayed or denied the allegations, refused to accept responsibility and refused to reimburse Williams for damages, prompting Williams to file the lawsuit.

Dan Wilmot, the attorney representing Williams in the lawsuit, said in an interview Wednesday that the terms of the attorney’s fees were changed after Grant had already begun representing Williams.

“If she’s going to change her client’s agreement, she needs to tell her client to go get an independent legal opinion to see if it makes sense,” Wilmot said.

In his view, Williams did not agree to pay $10,000 in attorney’s fees and instead placed the money in a trust fund to cover the third party’s legal expenses.

Williams’ discrimination suit was settled without an admission of wrongdoing or wrongdoing by TPS on Aug. 6 for $3,000, court records show. When offered an opportunity to comment at the time, Grant declined, saying she could not immediately talk about the resolution or reveal why.

Shortly after, The News Tribune spoke with Williams, who claimed she did not sign the agreement, saying in an interview that she only realized the case was closed after reading the news. Williams claimed she initially agreed to the financial terms, but then expressed reservations. Williams said she believed she could have agreed to more and wanted to know how her money was spent.