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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Federal judge dismisses part of ACLU lawsuit against Flint over police gag order
Published: Thursday, December 30, 2010, 8:32 PM Updated: Thursday, December 30, 2010, 9:38 PM
By Khalil AlHajal | The Flint Journal
FLINT, Michigan — A federal judge today agreed to dismiss part of a lawsuit raised in 2008 by police Sgt. Lee Ann Gaspar, Sgt. Richard Hetherington and Lt. David Winch against former Police Chief David Dicks and the city for First Amendment violations.
U.S. District Court Judge Patrick J. Duggan partially granted a motion for summary judgement, dismissing parts of the lawsuit related to Winch, because comments the lieutenant made to the Flint Journal on June 5, 2008 "did not involve a matter of public interest, and was therefore not constitutionally protected."
Click here for the original article in which Winch was quoted.
The ACLU filed the lawsuit in 2008 in response to officers being disciplined for comments made to news outlets and in response to Dicks implementing a ban on police officers speaking to the media.
The Police Department later rescinded the ban and reinstated Hetherington, who was fired at one point after making the comments in this article.
The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, lost wages, costs and attorney's fees, along with removal of references to the discipline in the plaintiffs' personnel files, a declaration that the media policy was unconstitutional and an injunction against its enforcement, according to court documents.
Duggan refused to dismiss the rest of the lawsuit, saying Hetherington's comments did involve a matter of public concern.
President of the Greater Flint American Civil Liberties Union Greg Gibbs couldn't immediately be reached for comment on the court opinion.
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Fri Dec 31, 2010 8:39 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Flint hit with $800,000 lawsuit judgment and interest; state Supreme Court won't hear city's appeal
Published: Friday, December 31, 2010, 3:00 AM
By Ron Fonger | Flint Journal
FLINT -- Another lawsuit is about to cost the city big money -- more than $800,000 that Mayor Dayne Walling and the City Council will have to have to find after having depleted a self-insurance fund.
The state Supreme Court has turned down the city's request to reconsider the case of Gary Hovanec, who successfully sued the city five years ago after injuring his left shoulder, left wrist and left knee on a city sidewalk in 2003.
Dayne Walling
Hovanec suffered his injuries after walking into a guardrail that had been damaged in a car accident and was left sticking out over the sidewalk.
Genesee Circuit Judge Richard B. Yuille awarded Hovanec $650,000 in 2008, but the city appealed the case, allowing interest to build up and the amount due to reach $817,000 and counting, said Hovanec's attorney, Howard J. Radner.
"Had they paid it when the trial was over they would have saved themselves (a lot of money)," Radner said.
City Attorney Peter Bade said the lawsuit is another in a string of cases the Walling administration inherited when it came into office.
"This is just one more mess we are left to clean up," Bade said. "I don't think this case was well-handled."
City attorneys had argued that Hovanec's claims of injury had been exaggerated and said he could have avoided the injuries.
Walling will work with the city finance director and the City Council to find money to pay the judgment. The City Council recently agreed to settle another lawsuit for $625,000 with a woman shot in 2006 by a Flint police officer.
That settlement wiped out a self insurance fund the city set up to pay out lawsuit settlements in the current fiscal year. There are six six months remaining in the fiscal year.
The city has also already assessed an extra 6.751 mills on all property tax bills in December to cover a nearly $9-million legal judgment due to the former owner of Genesee Towers.
Bade said the council set aside just about one-half of what Walling asked for in this year's budget for lawsuit settlements -- slightly less than $1 million.
"We're going to have to go back to council and add funding for it," he said.
Bade said he has already talked to Radner about negotiating a series of payments from the city rather than a lump sum but he described the attorney as "unwilling to negotiate."
Radner said his client's injuries were serious and said the judgment is due to him "immediately."
Hovanec required at least three surgeries on his shoulder and wrist since the accident, which occurred at about 1 a.m. on Dec. 23, 2003, when Hovanec was power-walking along West Court Street near Beecher Road.
When he turned his head at the sound of a car horn, Hovanec ran into the guardrail that was sticking over the sidewalks, wreckage caused by a car accident that had occurred a month earlier but had not been cleaned up, according to his lawsuit.
Yuille had ruled Hovenec was 25 percent responsible for his injuries.
Bade said the city has an interest in settling the judgment as soon as possible so that interest doesn't continue to build on the judgment.
Flint Councilman Joshua Freeman said Thursday that he wasn't aware of the Supreme Court's decision not to jump into the Hovanec case and isn't sure how the city will pay the bill.
"We've got no money," said Freeman, chairman of the city's finance committee. |
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Fri Dec 31, 2010 8:43 am |
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Professional Skeptic
F L I N T O I D
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"We've got no money"...this is true, but in Oct 2010, the City paid about $1.3m to GM. This is from the city's website at http://www.cityofflint.com/checklookup/checks.asp
Does anyone know what this payment was for? I hope it was just a pass-through and not really the city's money. |
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Tue Jan 04, 2011 8:48 pm |
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Jeeper
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Professional Skeptic schreef:
"We've got no money"...this is true, but in Oct 2010, the City paid about $1.3m to GM. This is from the city's website at http://www.cityofflint.com/checklookup/checks.asp
Does anyone know what this payment was for? I hope it was just a pass-through and not really the city's money.
I would imagine (or at least hope) it's payment for city cars/trucks, cop cars, ect. |
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Wed Jan 05, 2011 6:24 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| Depositions of 52 police are being taken for the case aginst the city over the creation of the pilot program Citizens Service Bureau. Speers already won a huge settlement. So are there more forthcoming? |
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Wed Jan 05, 2011 9:53 pm |
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Professional Skeptic
F L I N T O I D
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Thu Jan 06, 2011 9:24 am |
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00SL2
F L I N T O I D
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| Well...do you think that qualifies us for refund of our over-assessed properties? |
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Thu Jan 06, 2011 1:28 pm |
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