Former employee, Nelnet agree to drop lawsuits that stem from failed whistle …

LINCOLN, Neb. — A former employee and a Lincoln-based student loan company have dropped lawsuits against each other.

Lawyers for Nelnet and Rudy Vigil filed for a dismissal that was approved last week in U.S. District Court, according to the Lincoln Journal Star (http://bit.ly/yJV4mM)

The settlement didn’t include any financial provisions and stipulated that Nelnet and Vigil would drop all claims against the other.

A Nelnet spokesman said the company settled because it learned Vigil had filed for bankruptcy.

“As a result, we believe it is very unlikely that we would be able to recover the costs we incurred in defending against his original meritless lawsuit,” Nelnet spokesman Ben Kiser told the Journal Star in an email.

Vigil, who lives in Commerce City, Colo., joined Nelnet in 2003 and was fired in January 2005. He sued Nelnet, and they settled in October 2005.

Nelnet said in its lawsuit that as part of the 2005 settlement, “Vigil agreed to fully and forever release and discharge Nelnet from any and all claims, demands, actions liabilities and damages of any kind and nature.”

But in 2007, Vigil filed a federal lawsuit as a whistle-blower under the False Claims Act. He accused the company of improperly collecting federal subsidies after violating federal lending rules.

The lawsuit was dismissed in 2010, and the dismissal was upheld on appeal.

Nelnet said that lawsuit violated the 2005 agreement.

But Vigil’s lawyer, Tim Matusheski, said that as long as Vigil had a reasonable belief that he was “stopping a crime or a violation of the False Claims Act, he’s protected by the First Amendment and the False Claims Act.”

Nelnet’s lawsuit was aimed at punishing Vigil for his 2007 whistle-blower lawsuit, Matusheski said.

Nelnet’s Kiser said the courts repeatedly agreed with his company’s position in contesting Vigil’s 2007 allegations.

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Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, http://www.journalstar.com

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