TACOMA — A teacher whose discrimination lawsuit against Tacoma Public Schools was settled for $3,000 is now suing the former Pierce County Superior Court judge who represented her, alleging fraud and breach of contract.

Betty Williams, a black woman in her 70s, had accused TPS of failing her for a job because of her age, race and gender. Williams claimed in a lawsuit filed this week that her attorney in the matter, Beverly Grant, and Grant’s law firm wrongfully took money from her.

At the heart of the dispute is that Grant allegedly agreed that she would receive 40 percent of the money recovered in the civil case or no attorney’s fees if the case did not result in a win or monetary settlement, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in Pierce. Superior Court and a contingency fee agreement attached to the complaint.

There was no hourly attorney fee for Grant under the contract, the complaint says.

Williams put $10,000 into a trust to be applied to representation costs as they were incurred, including items such as office supplies, court filing fees and filing costs, according to the contingency fee agreement. Grant is accused of converting the $10,000 in trust fund money into hourly attorney fees and asking Williams to agree to the charges.

Grant, who represented Williams from 2021 to 2024, was barred from seeking her client’s consent for such an action, allegedly because it was fraudulent and in conflict with the client’s interest, the complaint said, adding that consent is void and unenforceable.

In an August memo on an invoice — both of which were attached to the complaint — Grant informed Williams that she had put 66 hours, which is more than $34,000, into the case. According to the memo, Williams allegedly agreed to pay $10,000 in attorney’s fees and was being reimbursed $2,592 for having paid $12,592.

When reached by phone Wednesday, Grant said she was at a family memorial out of state and would see if she could meet the News Tribune’s 5 p.m. deadline to comment on the allegations. Ultimately, Grant did not offer any comment to The News Tribune, and an email inquiry sent to her and her firm Wednesday was not returned.

The complaint said Grant and her firm downplayed or denied the allegations, refused to accept responsibility and refused to compensate Williams for damages, prompting Williams to take legal action.

Dan Wilmot, an attorney representing Williams in the lawsuit, said in an interview Wednesday that the terms involving attorneys’ fees were changed after Grant had already begun representing Williams.

“If she’s going to change the deal with her client, she needs to tell the client to go get an independent legal opinion to see if it makes sense,” Wilmot said.

It was his opinion that Williams did not agree to pay $10,000 in attorneys’ fees, but to put that money into a trust for third-party court-related costs.

Williams’ discrimination suit was settled, without an admission of fault or wrongdoing by TPS, on Aug. 6 for $3,000, court records show. When offered an opportunity to comment at the time, Grant declined, saying he couldn’t immediately talk about the resolution and wouldn’t say why.

Shortly after, The News Tribune spoke with Williams, who claimed he did not sign the agreement, saying in an interview that he only realized the case had been dismissed after reading the news. Williams claimed he initially agreed to the financial terms but then had reservations. Williams said she thought she could have settled for more and wanted to know how her money was spent.