City of Arcata v. Watson CA1/1

I. BACKGROUND

Watson was appointed to the city council in April 2017. At that time, K.D. was the city manager. The city manager is responsible for the City’s day-to-day operations and staff management. The city manager is supervised by the five-member city council. The mayor has the most contact with the

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Code of Civil Procedure.

1 city manager out of all the council members. Watson became the City’s mayor in 2019. Later that year, Watson expressed his strong romantic feelings for K.D. Over the following two years, Watson became increasingly fixated on K.D. and their interactions became more frequent and personal in nature: he would text and call K.D. outside of work hours, including on the weekends and during her vacations; he would go to her office without a scheduled meeting, occasionally interrupting ongoing meetings; and he would ask for long and sustained hugs that became “creepy” and “too long.” K.D. described Watson as having his “hooks” in her. Watson and K.D. would go on regular walks during the COVID-19 lockdown between 2020 and 2021. During their walks, the conversations sometimes concerned City business, but they often…