Utah lawmaker, school district settle lawsuit stemming from mask dispute

SALT LAKE CITY — A state lawmaker has settled a lawsuit with a Utah school district to the tune of more than $300,000.

The legal battle — which began before Rep. Matt MacPherson, R-West Valley City, took office — dates back to the COVID-19 pandemic and a school bus incident involving masks. That incident was captured on video, which KSL-TV obtained through a public records request.

Even though the lawsuit is settled, the Granite School District said it still disputes what MacPherson claims occurred.

Meanwhile, MacPherson, who was elected to the Utah House of Representatives in 2023, criticized the district and called the whole legal saga "frivolous nonsense."

'You're violating state law'

On Jan. 10, 2022, as the COVID-19 pandemic was going on, MacPherson's children boarded a school bus without wearing masks. The driver told the children they needed masks to stay on the bus.

MacPherson stood at the bus door, filming on his phone.

"They are exempt," MacPherson said repeatedly.

The driver radioed her boss, who backed her up.

"They've got to have an exemption before they get on the bus without a mask," the supervisor said.

MacPherson didn't like that.

"You're violating state law," he told the driver. "You're violating the law."

Those few minutes on the bus would lead to a three-year legal battle, starting with a complaint by MacPherson against the Granite School District. A district employee then sued MacPherson. Finally, MacPherson filed a countersuit against that employee and other district leaders.

Social media criticism

On that morning in January 2022, MacPherson's children eventually got off the bus, and MacPherson took to social media, claiming his daughter was removed from the bus "forcibly" despite having a medical exemption.

He also attended a Salt Lake County Council meeting to speak against a mask mandate. MacPherson talked about his daughter's mental health and why she couldn't wear a mask, and he referenced the incident on the bus.

"Bus driver got in her face and started yelling at her, waving her arms around her," MacPherson said. "At one point, (the driver) tried to reach out and grab one of my daughter's arms to pull her off the bus."

But the Granite School District claimed that wasn't what happened.

"(The bus driver) ushered your children from the bus in accordance with her training with patience and respect," wrote Douglas Larson, the district's director of policy and legal services, in a March 2022 letter to MacPherson. "She stood in the aisle and gestured gently with her hand toward the front of the bus like a flight attendant. She was calm and never raised her voice."

Surveillance video obtained by KSL-TV shows the moment the driver approached the students and directed them off the bus. After the incident, MacPherson took aim online at the district's transportation director, David Gatti, blaming him for the whole ordeal.

When MacPherson and his wife tried to meet with Gatti the next day, which they said he invited them to do, he referred them to Larson and asked them to leave. When they wouldn't, Gatti called the police. Officers soon arrived and asked the couple to exit the building.

Once outside, MacPherson and his wife continued protesting what happened.

"That guy's a freaking tyrant," MacPherson said, referring to Gatti. "What he's done to us was intentional, malice-driven, and this is just ridiculous. This is a public building."

At the end of January 2022, MacPherson filed a complaint against the Granite School District. An internal investigation by the district in response to that complaint found MacPherson's children "should have been allowed to remain on the bus," but neither Gatti nor the bus driver had seen new guidance issued late the night before the incident which would have allowed that.

The district called it a "miscommunication" and apologized.

"In this case, the mistake was immediately corrected, and no discrimination, intentional or otherwise, can be attributed to district employees' actions," Larson wrote to MacPherson. "While you were advocating for your kids, district employees kept their composure and maintained professional communication with you."

Long legal battle

A few weeks after the complaint was filed, Gatti sued MacPherson for defamation over what he said about him. MacPherson then filed a countersuit, saying his speech was protected by the First Amendment.

MacPherson eventually added other Granite School District leaders to his countersuit, alleging that they advised Gatti to file the initial lawsuit "to stop" him.

Overall, the legal case dragged on for several years. Once MacPherson countersued, the Utah Attorney General's Office got involved, representing Gatti and the other district leaders because of their status as public employees.

The initial suit from Gatti was eventually decided in MacPherson's favor. Now, MacPherson and the school district have settled the remaining claims for $315,000, which includes money for any of MacPherson's attorney's fees.

"Granite School District parties dispute MacPherson's allegations in the lawsuit," the settlement agreement stated, adding that both sides reached the agreement "solely for the purpose of settling the dispute and to avoid the expense of further litigation."

Court records show the case was dismissed Feb. 4.

"All we were trying to do was protect our daughter and file a complaint," MacPherson told KSL-TV in a brief phone interview. "For our troubles, we got sued."

As this legal saga played out, MacPherson won a special election to the Utah House of Representatives in 2023. He was re-elected to a full term last November.

"I'm glad it's over," MacPherson added about the settlement. "I hope that the district and the individuals involved learned some sort of lesson from this."

The Granite School District declined to make any further comment.

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