Maegan Hall: Firings, Federal Lawsuit, and $500K Settlement

Maegan Hall’s lawsuit against the City of La Vergne, Tennessee settled for $500,000 in March 2024, ending a federal civil rights case in which the former patrol officer alleged she had been sexually groomed and exploited by supervisors at the La Vergne Police Department. The city’s liability insurer paid the entire amount, and La Vergne denied any admission of liability.¹

What Hall Alleged in Her Federal Lawsuit

Hall filed suit on February 27, 2023, in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, case number 3:23-cv-00173, before Judge Eli Jeremy Richardson.² She named four defendants: the City of La Vergne, former Police Chief Burrel “Chip” Davis, Sergeant Lewis Powell, and Sergeant Henry “Ty” McGowan.³

The complaint framed Hall, who was 24 at the time of the conduct, as the target of grooming and sexual coercion inside a department “permeated with sexual innuendo and sexually explicit behavior.” It said male officers openly discussed their sexual preferences and their desire to have sex with her, and that Hall felt “trapped” among people she viewed as “predators” rather than “role models.”⁴

An EEOC filing attached to the case included more specific allegations. It said Chief Davis asked Hall to dance in his office and made comments about her appearance. It said Sergeants McGowan and Powell pressured Hall to conceal a history of anxiety, depression, and self-mutilation, which her attorneys argued “enabled Sergeant McGowan and others to place a young, vulnerable woman within the LPD and subject her to sexual coercion.” The filing also accused Davis and HR Director Andrew Patton of intentionally leaving sexual harassment allegations out of investigative reports in order to “cast Ms. Hall as a perpetrator and not a victim.”¹

What Triggered the Case

The lawsuit grew out of an internal investigation that became public in January 2023. Mayor Jason Cole had brought reports of sexual relationships inside the department to human resources in December 2022, and a 20-page report followed describing widespread misconduct on the evening shift.⁵

Investigators found that officers had engaged in sexual acts inside city-owned property, including the department gym and a substation, and that all of the male officers identified in the report admitted to undisclosed sexual relationships with Hall. Five officers, including Hall, were fired: patrol officers Hall and Juan Lugo-Perez, Sergeants Henry “Ty” McGowan and Lewis Powell, and Detective Seneca Shields. Three others were suspended without pay.⁶ A separate third-party investigation by Frost Brown Todd LLP later found that Chief Davis had known about the misconduct for months, failed to act, and had himself requested and received nude photos and videos of Hall from McGowan. Davis was fired as well.⁷

In her only public interview, given to NewsChannel 5 on March 1, 2023, Hall rejected the assumption that she had freely participated. “I know what most people are saying. ‘You could have said no.’ I get it. But my response to them is that I did say no, and he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Eventually, I gave in from the pressure,” she said. She also said the chief of police had sexually harassed her and that she had been hospitalized after considering suicide.⁸

How the $500,000 Settlement Was Structured

On March 20, 2024, the La Vergne Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted to authorize a $500,000 settlement resolving Hall’s suit. The gross figure covered all court costs, attorney fees, and expenses. The city’s liability insurance provider, PEP, paid the full amount, and Mayor Cole stated that no taxpayer funds were used. La Vergne denied any admission of liability as part of the agreement.¹

Hall filed a notice of voluntary dismissal the next day, and the court dismissed the case with prejudice on March 22, 2024, meaning she cannot refile the same claims.²

What Both Sides Said After the Settlement

Hall’s attorney Wesley Clark of Nashville firm Brazil Clark PLLC called the outcome “a victory for Maegan Hall and for women in male-dominated workplaces everywhere,” saying “the government cannot promote a sexually hostile work environment and get away with it.” Co-counsel Sarah Mansfield called it “an unmitigated victory.” Clark said Hall chose to settle in order to “put this in the past and move forward with her life” rather than face years of additional litigation.⁹

Clark had earlier described how his client saw her role at the department: “Maegan wasn’t looked at as a rookie cop to be trained and promoted. She was looked at like a piece of meat to be sexualized and exploited.”⁸

No criminal charges were filed against any of the officers over the sexual misconduct itself as of the most recent available reporting.⁸

Related Suits That Followed

Hall’s federal case was not the only litigation to come out of the scandal, and the two other suits are sometimes confused with hers.

In April 2023, former Sergeant Lewis Powell filed a defamation countersuit against Hall, alleging that statements she made in her March 2023 television interview were false. Powell sought $200,000 in compensatory damages plus punitive damages, claiming reputational harm, emotional distress, and lost income.¹⁰ In December 2023, Powell filed a separate federal suit against the city, Mayor Cole, HR Director Patton, and former Chief Davis, alleging racial discrimination and claiming Davis had ordered him to lie during the investigation. Powell sought $3 million and a jury trial.¹¹

In April 2024, former Chief Davis sued the City of La Vergne seeking reinstatement, back pay, and compensatory damages. He alleged racial discrimination, claiming that white supervisors involved in the scandal faced no discipline while he, a Black officer, was fired.¹²

Where Hall Is Now

The publicity effectively ended Hall’s law enforcement career. At the time of the settlement, reporting described how the attention had “thwarted her attempts to regain employment,” and her attorneys said she intended to return to school.³

As of March 2025, Hall was reported to be working as a pharmacy technician, a field in which she had been licensed by the Tennessee Department of Health as early as 2018, before she joined the La Vergne Police Department. She was 29 and living in a home in Manchester, Tennessee, that she and her husband, Jedidiah, had purchased before the scandal. Their current marital status has not been publicly confirmed.¹³

1
Daily News Journal. La Vergne Agrees to $500K Settlement in Police Sexual Harassment Case
2
CourtListener. Hall v. City of La Vergne, Tennessee
3
WSMV. Maegan Hall Reaches $500K Settlement After Dismissing Lawsuit
4
Police1. Fired Tenn. Officer Claims Grooming, Harassment Led to Sex Scandal
5
WSMV. 5 La Vergne Officers Fired Amid Investigation
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WSMV. Tenn. Officers Involved in Sex Scandal Reprimanded Before
7
WSMV. Fired La Vergne Police Chief Fighting to Get Certification Back After Sex Scandal
8
10News. Former Officer at Center of Tennessee Police Sex Scandal Speaks Out
9
NewsChannel 5. Attorney of Former La Vergne Police Department Officer Speaks Out After Settlement
10
WSMV. La Vergne Police Officer Countersues Sexual Harassment Complaint
11
WKRN. Former La Vergne Officer Suing City After Sex Scandal
12
NewsChannel 5. Former La Vergne Police Chief Sues City Following Sex Scandal, Claiming Racial Discrimination
13
The Spun. Former Police Officer Officially Lands New Job