A jury rejected a former city official who claimed that the city of Delray Beach improperly withheld severance benefits after terminating him.

In March 2019, plaintiff Mark Lauzier, a city manager, was terminated by his employer, the city of Delray Beach.

During the prior month, the city's mayor had requested reimbursement of airfare. She had purchased two tickets: One was for herself, and the other had been purchased for her son, so he could accompany her. The son was not an official employee of the city, so Lauzier denied the request to reimburse the cost of the son's ticket. Lauzier claimed that his termination was a retaliatory response to his partial denial of the mayor's request. Lauzier also claimed that the city wrongly withheld severance pay that was a term of his contract.