GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — The city of Greensboro has paid about $8,500 to lawyers who gave the city’s mayor advice before she gave a deposition in a lawsuit.

Developer Eric Robert sued the city in May 2015, saying he should have received part of nearly $7 million in grants to revitalize part of Greensboro. Robert had said Mayor Nancy Vaughan had private conversations with him that contradicted what he was told by the city.

The News & Record of Greensboro reports (http://bit.ly/1XvSj3Z ) that Vaughn denied that, and initially said she would pay for her lawyers on her own. But City Attorney Tom Carruthers says Greensboro offered to pay the bill because the mayor was sued as a part of city business.

Robert has dropped his lawsuit.

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Information from: News & Record, http://www.news-record.com