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Judge Rules County Not Liable for Discrimination But Union Is

A Federal court judge in Florida has overturned a jury verdict against Pasco County in a discrimination suit filed by two firefighters. The two firefighters, Anthony Booth and Jerry Brown, claimed their captain discriminated against them on the basis of their race and religion. Booth is a firefighter/EMT, who is Hispanic,  and Brown is a driver/engineer, whose wife’s family is Jewish.

They later sued the county and IAFF Local 4420 claiming they were retaliated against for filing the initial complaint.  On January 31, 2012, a Federal court jury agreed, awarding the pair $189,000.

This week, Judge James Moody concluded that the county was justified in sending the firefighters for a psychological evaluation prior to allowing them to return to duty, a point that the jury felt was discriminatory.

Judge Moody agreed with the jury as to the union’s liability for posting a notice in the stations that referred to Booth and Brown by name, and indicated the possibility that union dues would go up as a result of the ‘frivolous” lawsuit. The judge rejected the union’s argument that the notice was protected “free speech”. He referred to the notice as “an implicit call for reprisal, and thus a retaliatory act.”

The union has been ordered to pay each firefighter $83,000, and the case has been continued on the issue of legal fees.

More on the story.

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Posted in Civil Suit, Constitutional Rights, Discrimination, First Amendment, Labor Law

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1 comment Posted by on February 22, 2012

Florida Discrimination Suit Includes the Union

Two Pasco County, FL firefighters have filed a race, ethnicity and religious discrimination suit against the county and the firefighter’s union. The lawsuit accuses a Pasco Fire Rescue Captain of using racial slurs against two employees, Anthony Booth and Jerry Brown. Booth is a firefighter/EMT, who is Hispanic and of Venezuelan-Spanish descent, and the Brown is a driver/engineer, whose wife's family is Jewish.

 

The suit was originally filed in November in state court, and removed to Federal Court on December 29, 2009. It alleges that Captain Mark Bodden repeatedly harassed Booth, who worked for him at Station 14, using racially and ethnically derogatory terms as well as shouting “vulgar words” and profanity at him, sometimes even in public. The suit also claims that Brown was often subjected to derogatory terms about his race, and subjected to anti-semetic language. In addition, Brown claims he was wrongfully denied leave to attend to family matters when his sister died.

 

The suit alleges that Bodden has been disciplined previously in the form of a written reprimand, anger management training, and cultural awareness classes, among other measures. County personnel director Barbara DeSimone acknowledged that  Bodden was disciplined by the county for his conduct toward Booth and Brown, but claimed it was not on account of harassment, and said the county did not violate anyones’s civil rights.

 

Booth and Brown included the union in the lawsuit because they allege that when they took their complaints to the union, they were turned away. Federal employment law permits employees to sue their union when the union discriminates against them, including when the union fails to intervene on their behalf.

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Posted in Civil Suit, Discrimination

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No comments Posted by on January 11, 2010

$3.2 Million Death Settlement in Chicago

The City of Chicago just settled a wrongful death case for $3.2 million.

The suit resulted from an incident where a Chicago engine company responded on a medical emergency, and the defibrillator did not work. The defibrillator failure that was attributed to the fact that the batteries were not replaced every 2 years as
recommended by the manufacturer. The patient died despite CPR being initiated almost immediately by his son, an off-duty firefighter.

The case raises a number of interesting issues:

  1. Could the City have been found liable at trial in the absence of proof that “but for” the dated batteries, the decedent would have survived? In legal parlance, the question is framed a bit differently – and focuses on whether the batteries were the proximate cause of the dead.
  2. Does the City have immunity for such an occurrence?
  3. Did the City owe the decedent a legal duty, and if so was it a public duty or a special duty?

The settlement means none of these issues will be explored, but the case raises another interesting question: What is the duty of other fire apparatus that do not even have defibrillators? Is there a legal duty to have a functioning AED on board every engine company?

The engine company in question had an AED. If a fire company is not required to have an AED, but has one – does that create a duty to ensure that the AED is functional? 

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Posted in Duty to Act, Immunity, Municipal Liability, Negligence

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No comments Posted by on October 24, 2009