Mayor Robert Moon’s lawsuit gets dismissed

The lawsuit against Palm Springs Mayor Robert Moon has been dismissed after an arbitration hearing was held in Inglewood on Thursday. The hearing was held after one of the mayor’s former political consultants filed a lawsuit against him, which the mayor responded to with a counter-suit.

KESQ and CBS Local 2 reached out to Mayor Moon on Friday. He told us he can’t say much about his court appearance in Inglewood because the professional mediator asked both parties to not discuss the case.

The mayor told us he is only allowed to say that both sides are happy with the decision, and no money changed hands during the mediation. Both sides agreed to dismiss their cases with prejudice, meaning the cases can’t be brought up again, Moon said.

His former political consultant, James Freeman, contended that he worked for Robert Moon at the very beginning of his mayoral campaign and was owed $20,000 for consulting fees. Freeman was only allowed to sue for the maximum amount of $10,000.

View Mayor Robert Moon’s Order to go to court

Mayor Moon said he fired Freeman over campaign strategy issues — namely Freeman wanting to run a negative campaign.

The mayor said he paid Freeman in full for his work and decided to counter-sue him for allegedly not producing work that Moon paid for.