Spokane Regional Health District pays $1.65 million to Lutz in settlement of wrongful termination lawsuit
May 15-More than five years after being fired at the height of the pandemic, Dr. Bob Lutz is being paid $1.65 million by the Spokane Regional Health District.
The seven-figure settlement was announced less than two weeks before the scheduled start of a jury trial that would have determined if Lutz was improperly fired by the Spokane County's public health agency.
"We view it as a substantial settlement indicative of the harm caused to Dr. Lutz in this process," said Lutz's attorney Mike Maurer, who confirmed the settlement Friday.
The settlement amount is greater than the initial amount sought by Lutz when he filed suit in 2022. That complaint sought $1.4 million in damages for his allegedly unlawful firing as the top health official of the health district and reinstatement in that position.
"This settlement represents the first step in putting the past 5 years of purgatory behind us," Lutz said in a statement. "While it was unfortunate that my stand for public health caused undue harm, I look forward to moving on. My wife Amy and I intend to use these funds to continue to support initiatives we feel will benefit our entire community."
The health district declined to comment on the details of the settlement.
"SRHD is aware that the insurer has made an agreement to settle Dr. Lutz's lawsuit. We have been advised not to discuss it any further until the settlement has been finalized," the health district wrote in a statement.
No settlement has been approved in a public vote by the health district board. Members of the board met for a private hourlong meeting Wednesday to discuss litigation issues, but no actions were taken.
Lutz served as the district's health officer between July 2017 and October 2020 - leading the community's public health response for the first seven months of the pandemic. In his wrongful termination lawsuit Lutz alleged political pressure from certain Board of Health members to reopen Spokane before he believed it safe to so.
At issue was whether the Spokane Regional Health District used the correct procedure when firing Lutz in October 2020. According to Lutz, former health district SRHD Amelia Clark fired him "effective immediately" during a meeting on Oct. 29, even though Lutz could only be fired by a vote of the Board of Health. The health board later voted to terminate his employment in a Nov. 5 meeting.
Health district officials argued Lutz was never fired by Clark in the first place. In its telling, Clark asked Lutz to resign and placed him on administrative leave when he refused. In arguments before a federal judicial panel earlier this year the health district said Lutz understood he had not been fired by Clark because he told The Spokesman-Review he was waiting for a final decision from the board. Lutz has pointed to contemporaneous communications by Clark and others at the health district indicating they understood him to be fired on Oct. 29.
In the lawsuit Lutz argued the district and Clark made "unprivileged false and untruthful statements about his ethics, professionalism, misappropriation of public funds and performance of his job."
The Washington State Board of Health later brought an action against Clark for the termination, and a preliminary investigation found Lutz' firing violated state law. The case was dismissed when Clark agreed to resign and not seek the position again.
The case was initially filed in state and federal court but in March 2025 a federal court dismissed Lutz' lawsuit and remanded claims to state court. Lutz appealed the decision, and the issue was revived before a three-judge panel in February this year. The judges undid the lower court's dismissal, but Lutz later agreed to dismiss the federal case to focus on state claims.
That state case was scheduled for a two-week trial starting May 26 before Spokane County Superior Court judge Annette Plese. Lutz was "very confident" he would prevail at trial, Maurer said. Lutz ultimately decided to settle based upon the large settlement amount offered and the potential for the case to last for years longer during an appeal.
"Dr. Lutz was treated very poorly, and that stems from the fact public officials have a duty to be honest," Maurer said.
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This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 7:13 PM.