Any verdict or settlement in the case would be paid by Chicago taxpayers, who will also foot the bill to defend Ald. Jim Gardiner’s claims.

“It is great to see the truth come to light after years of false allegations,” Ald. Jim Gardiner (45th Ward) said.

“We need to stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity,” Quezada said, vowing to make the 35th Ward a better place to live for all its residents.

Ald. Jim Gardiner spent nearly three times as much on legal fees during 2023 and 2024 than any other member of the Chicago City Council, according to a WTTW News analysis of records filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections.

The six plaintiffs will each get $4,000, with the remaining $133,500 covering their legal fees, according to a copy of the settlement agreement obtained by WTTW News.

Ald. Jim Gardiner (45th Ward) agreed to pay $157,500 to settle a lawsuit claiming he violated the First Amendment by blocking six critics from his official Facebook page in 2021, court records show.

The federal judge who ruled Ald. Jim Gardiner (45th Ward) violated the First Amendment by blocking six critics from his official Facebook page admonished him Friday for approaching her in June at a funeral even as the case remains pending.

The probe by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability concluded that two Chicago Police lieutenants “may have directed an improper campaign of harassment” against Pete Czosnyka “in retaliation for the exercise of his First Amendment rights.”

Inspector General Deborah Witzburg’s determination that Gardiner violated the city’s Governmental Ethics Ordinance is the “first-ever finding of probable cause in an inspector general ethics investigation of a sitting member of City Council,” officials said.

Benjamin George, a construction worker, said his life was upended on Aug. 19, 2019, when he stopped at a 7-Eleven store in Jefferson Park and mistakenly picked up a cell phone left on the checkout counter that did not belong to him.

“The record is clear that Gardiner engaged in both content-based and speaker-based restrictions on his Facebook page, according to the ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman. The Court thus finds Gardiner in violation of the First Amendment.”

Ald. Jim Gardiner (45th Ward) could face a $40,000 fine for violating the city's ethics ordinance.

Six members of the Chicago City Council will have to defend their seats during the April 4 runoff, including 29th Ward Ald. Chris Taliaferro, who fell 25 votes short of winning a majority of votes in his West Side ward.

The Chicago Board of Ethics first asked the city's watchdog to probe Gardiner in 2021 after complaints he used his power as an alderperson to retaliate against critics.

Charles Sikanich is accused of trying to sell an MP-40 fully automatic machine gun, which is illegal to possess in Illinois, to an undercover ATF agent while on the clock in a city vehicle, according to Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul. 

Chicago’s inspector general should conduct “a full factual investigation” of Ald. Jim Gardiner's conduct, the Chicago Board of Ethics determined.