A Bend man who sued the city and two of its police officers for $1.15 million after claiming he was falsely arrested recently settled the civil rights case for $17,500.

The settlement agreement, approved by the Bend City Council last month, brings an end to a nearly 6-year-old neighborhood dispute that involved allegations ranging from stalking and drug use to police misconduct and malicious prosecution.

In addition to the money, the settlement includes a provision that Police Chief Sandi Baxter issue a 295-word statement to all of her officers that the plaintiff in the lawsuit, Douglas Biolchini, be treated “the same as any other law-abiding citizen” and not be subjected to any “heightened scrutiny.”

Biolchini’s attorney, Michael Dillard, of Karnopp Peterson LLP in Bend, said his client was pleased with the resolution to the lawsuit and added that the $17,500 settlement payment is a relatively small aspect of the agreement.

“The lawsuit was never filed by Mr. Biolchini for purpose of a monetary reason,” Dillard said. “It was simply an attempt to bring this thing to an end and clear his name.”

The agreement includes a stipulation that the settlement is not an admission of guilt or liability by either party.

Biolchini filed the lawsuit against the city, Sgt. Daniel Ritchie and Officer Josh Clark in U.S. District Court in August 2009. Dillard said Clark was later dropped from the lawsuit.

In the complaint, Biolchini claimed he was arrested and prosecuted without probable cause for stalking his neighbors, with whom he had a long-standing disagreement over a shared driveway.

The neighbors wanted to remodel their home, which would have altered the driveway and required Biolchini to do work to his own house. After Biolchini refused to agree to his neighbors’ requests, his claim alleged they started calling in false noise complaints and telling police that he was, among other things, a drug dealer, peeping tom and “meth freak.”

Even though many of these claims were unfounded, Biolchini’s lawsuit alleged, the Police Department and its officers treated him like a criminal. These actions, the suit alleged, were prompted at least in part by a now-former police captain whose wife was the real estate agent working to sell Biolchini’s neighbors’ home.

That former captain was Kevin Sawyer, who, along with his wife, Tami Sawyer, is facing federal charges for wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering and false statements to a financial institution.

All the charges Biolchini faced in relation to the incidents with his neighbors have been dropped, and a civil defamation case he filed against them has been dismissed.

Gordon Welborn, the attorney representing the city in the case, said it was in the city’s best interest to resolve the lawsuit without a trial, mainly because of costs.

Aside from the $1.15 million in damages Biolchini sought, Welborn said the city would have to pay attorneys’ fees if it lost the case. Those alone, he estimated, would have been more than $200,000.

“In the end if we lost on any of (the charges) it could have resulted in a large verdict,” Welborn said. “That’s why we settled at the $17,500 figure. It was going to be probably a two-week trial, and it would have cost that much just to go through the trial.”

The city’s insurance company, CityCounty Insurance Services, will pay the $17,500 award from the settlement agreement.