It's been about six years since Jon Sprague's career with Spokane Valley Fire came to an end because of a disagreement over religious emails he sent to fellow firefighters with his work account.
That disagreement resulted in a six-year legal battle which eventually made its way to the state supreme court. The case just came to an end and now Sprague has nearly $1 million to show for it.
Sprague told KXLY in 2010, suicides among firefighters were becoming a national epidemic, so he wanted to revitalize the local chapter of the Christian Firefighter Fellowship.
He sent emails about the program and meet-ups to his coworkers to set up times to talk about leadership and suicide prevention -- and he did so for about a year, until he said it became an issue for his captain in late 2011.
"As he said, mentioning God or Jesus was a problem," he said.
Sprague told KXLY he was fired because of the emails in October 2012. The former captain, who planned to retire with SVFD, was now left to find a new job.
Spokane Valley Fire awarded Sprague with a $900,000 settlement and additional retirement benefits before the case was set to go to trial in February.