Los Angeles ? On the eve of a lawsuit that could have revealed embarrassing details about hazing within Los Angeles Fire Department, the City Council voted Friday to pay nearly $1.5 million to a black firefighter who was fed dog food by his colleagues.

A spokesman for City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said the settlement pushed the total cost of the case to $2.8 million once the $1.3 million in legal fees accumulated by the city since December are factored in. That amount is about $100,000 more than a settlement offered by the council in 2006 , but vetoed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Villaraigosa, who gave his blessing to the latest legal deal, vetoed a $2.7 million settlement last year to Tennie Pierce, a 19-year firefighter who lives in Cerritos. After that, the council hired a private legal team and prepared for trial. The case had been set to open Monday, but court officials recently rescheduled it to early October , assuming it would still be necessary.

Council President Eric Garcetti, who brokered the deal between Pierce and the mayor, said he hoped it would allow Pierce and his family to “move on with the next chapter in their life.”

“I’m pleased that this case has been resolved, that we can get back focused on the hard work of improving the fire department and restoring its reputation,” he said. “I’m also pleased that we were able to save taxpayer money in what promises to be a very difficult budget year.”

Garcetti began serving as a go-between on the case last week, after he and colleagues were told that a jury verdict in the Pierce case could cost city taxpayers $7 million or more. At the time, Villaraigosa had said that he would not go above a $999,999 settlement.

Nick Velasquez, spokesman for Delgadillo, called the settlement a “fiscally responsible outcome for the city.”

Partisans on both sides of the case privately said the deal spared Pierce the trauma of a jury trial while giving Villaraigosa the ability to say that he held firm and sent a message to other would-be plaintiffs seeking money from the city.

Hours after the vote, Villaraigosa released a statement describing the decision as “the best possible outcome for taxpayers. … It reduces the original settlement by nearly half while protecting Angelenos from further liability,” Villaraigosa said in a prepared statement.

Pierce’s lawyer, Genie Harrison, had no immediate comment. But a statement from City Clerk Frank Martinez said that under the terms of the agreement, Pierce had agreed to drop all of his claims and retire from the fire department.

Other council members emerged from their closed-door meeting saying that they had promised to remain silent about the deal.

Still, three people familiar with the case said Pierce would receive a little more than $1.4 million, plus $60,000 in back pay – a move that would classify him as a 20-year city employee and give him a higher level of pension benefits.

Pierce’s lawsuit stems from an incident in which he was fed dog food mixed into his spaghetti dinner at Fire Station No. 5 in Westchester. Though some colleagues described the prank as a play on the 6-foot-5 Pierce’s nickname, “Big Dog,” Pierce filed a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination and retaliation.

Friday’s settlement brought the number of legal payouts at the fire department to $14.3 million over the last fiscal year.

The lawsuits – some of which revolve around allegations of racial, sexual and religious bias – caused Villaraigosa to force the last fire chief, William Bamattre, into retirement. That decision came just days after Villaraigosa vetoed the Pierce settlement, which sparked denunciations among some of the city’s black civic leaders.

Villaraigosa issued the veto after news media published photos of Pierce engaged in his own brand of firehouse horseplay. At the time, the mayor said he wanted council members to take another look at the case.

Six council members, including Garcetti, tried to override the veto without success.