With her $750,000 claim denied, former MPUSD supe Marilyn Shepherd sues Monterey over pothole fall.

Potholes are a constant, expensive problem for any city, but they can become far more expensive when they cause someone to trip and fall.

Especially if that someone can “no longer enjoy the latest fashion in high heel shoes.”

Former Monterey Peninsula Unified School District superintendent Marilyn Shepherd is that someone, and she sued the city of Monterey March 11 for damages and expenses caused by an April 3, 2014 fall that broke one ankle and sprained the other.

The lawsuit comes after Shepherd filed a claim against the city last September for $750,000, which the Monterey City Council later denied. City officials have said the pothole was less than an inch deep.

In addition to Shepherd’s $74,000 in medical expenses, the claim also sought “general and non-economic damages” of approximately $675,000.

Those damages are that Shepherd has an “unsightly six inch permanent scar on her left ankle and foot,” and that the pins inside her left ankle “will forever prevent her from wearing the latest fashions in high heel shoes; walking on a sandy beach; and dancing with her husband.”

Also mentioned are the “inability to enjoy the day-to-day pleasures of life as a married couple, and temporary loss of sexual relations.”

Shepherd left MPUSD in cloud of controversy two years ago. She had announced that she would retire in spring 2013, but instead took a leave of absence in January due to a family emergency. She retired a few weeks later, just before the district’s board voted unanimously to pay her salary until the end of school year.

Between the time she left work and the end of the year, Shepherd was paid $93,000 by the district, money that many teachers felt should have been used elsewhere.

A case progress conference is scheduled for Sept. 15.