Widow Sues Mayor For Causing Chief’s Psychotic Break

The widow of a New Bedford deputy chief who has shot and killed by police officers, has filed suit claiming the psychotic break that precipitated the shooting was the result of two years of abuse and humiliation orchestrated by the city’s mayor. Jane Coderre filed suit in Bristol County Superior Court alleging conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, tortious interference with an advantageous relationship, abuse of process, and invasion of privacy.

Deputy Fire Chief Paul N. Coderre, Jr. was shot by Fairhaven police during a brief standoff at the Bayside Lounge on December 29, 2023. The facts are complicated, but as explained in the complaint:

• Paul N. Coderre, Jr. was a third-generation firefighter for the City of New Bedford.
• Mr. Coderre had advanced through the ranks of the City’s fire department serving honorably without discipline for 30 years.
• During his service as a New Bedford firefighter, Coderre sustained back injuries on multiple occasions in the line of duty which by 2021 rendered him incapacitated and disabled from work effectively as a firefighter.
• By Massachusetts statute, he was entitled to leave without loss of pay for the period of such incapacity.
• Despite Coderre’s ongoing entitlement to leave with pay for incapacitation, and while he was on paid leave, New Bedford Mayor Jonathan Mitchell terminated Coderre on January 25, 2022, falsely alleging that Coderre had defrauded the city by faking his disability and injuries.
• Coderre appealed his termination to the Massachusetts Civil Services Commission.
• On November 30, 2023 — twenty-two months after the mayor terminated Coderre, the Commission determined that the mayor’s actions were unlawful, “wrongheaded” and in emphatic terms, overturned the termination.
• CSC concluded that the decision to terminate Coderre “was pre-determined and, possibly, attributable to Mitchell’s ulterior motive to pre-empt Coderre’s effort to seek retirement benefits.”
• CSC also observed that certain actions by the City of New Bedford and the mayor “raise[d] an eyebrow” suggesting the Mayor’s personal bias.
• CSC found that the Mayor’s fraud allegations were wholly inconsistent with the dedication and upstanding performance Coderre displayed during his 30 years with the New Bedford Fire Department.
• Coderre died in the late afternoon of December 29, 2023, the same day he became aware of the City of New Bedford’s Court appeal of the CSC’s decision. In the hours following his learning of the appeal on December 29, 2023, Coderre suffered a psychotic break.
• This lawsuit deals with the events of the two years leading up to Coderre’s death during which he was wrongfully defamed and wrongfully denied his wages and certain earned benefits by the Defendants, resulting in Coderre’s emotional breakdown on the afternoon of December 29, 2023.
• This lawsuit does not include a claim for wrongful death. The Plaintiffs reserve their right to bring such a claim if warranted and when timely.

Among the allegations of improper conduct by the mayor:

• In December 2021, Coderre’s board-certified treating neurosurgeon, Dr. Paul J. Houle, reported again that Coderre’s injuries had caused him permanent disability and that Coderre’s days as a firefighter were effectively over.
• Coderre then filed applications for both service connected and normal retirement (disability and superannuation).
• Rather than evaluating and approving either retirement, defendants took steps to terminate Coderre for moral turpitude, accusing Codere of faking his injuries and disability and thus stealing city funds in the form of payments made to him under Chapter 41, Section 111 F.
• On January 6, 2022, defendants notified Coderre by letter that a hearing on his discharge would be held barely seven days later, on January 13, 2022.
• Mayor Mitchell nevertheless went forward with January 13, 2022, hearing denying Coderre’s attorney’s request for additional time to prepare for this hearing.
• On January 19, 2022, the hearing officer appointed by Defendant Mitchell and/or his codefendants issued a predetermined report, unsupported by the record of the “hearing,” and not hearing from Coderre himself or any medical professionals concluded that Coderre had acted dishonestly in connection with his disability claims.
• On January 24, 2022, the Defendant Mayor adopted the hearing officer’s predetermined “decision” and report and immediately discharged Coderre from his employment with the New Bedford Fire Department.
• That action was intended to nullify both of Coderre’s attempts to retire.
• As a result of his termination for alleged moral turpitude, Coderre was rendered ineligible for his thirty years of hard-earned benefits including health insurance and pension.
• The decision to terminate Mr. Coderre under these circumstances, flatly denying two alternative methods of voluntary retirement, was deemed unprecedented by New Bedford Retirement Board Executive Director Eric Cohen.
• Defendants thereafter continued their vicious defamatory public attacks against Coderre, repeating in several media releases and interviews the unsupported allegation that Coderre was “putting on an act.”
• The libel and defamation committed by Defendant Mitchell, personally and in his capacity as mayor of the City of New Bedford, occurred on the following dates, in the following media, with the following quoted accusations and allegations against Paul Coderre:
  • 1/25/2022 broadcasted on ABC6 “dishonesty” “untruthfulness” “untruthful” “putting on an act” “He abused the department” “betrayed the trust” “took advantage of city taxpayers”
  • 1/25/22 broadcasted on City Of N.B Website Blog, YouTube Postings “untruthful” “putting on an act” “use his position for personal gain” “He abused the department” “he betrayed the trust of the firefighters” “he took advantage of city taxpayers”
  • 1/25/22 broadcasted on NBC News Channel 10 “untruthful” “putting on an act” “betrayed the trust” “took advantage of city taxpayers”
  • 1/25/22 broadcasted on WBSM Media Coverage “dishonest” “untruthful” “putting on an act” “betrayed the trust” “took advantage of city taxpayers”
  • 1/26/22 published in the Boston Globe “putting on an act” “betrayed the trust” “took advantage of city taxpayers” “untruthful”
  • 1/26/22 published in Firefighter Nation “dishonesty and untruthfulness”
  • 1/26/22 broadcasted on NBC ews Channel 10 “untruthful” “putting on an act” “betrayed the trust” “took advantage of city taxpayers” “dishonesty” “untruthfulness”
  • 1/26/22 broadcasted on Southcoast Today Media Coverage “dishonesty and untruthfulness” “betrayed the trust” “took advantage of city taxpayers” “untruthful” “putting on an act” “He abused the department”
  • 1 /26/22 broadcasted on WBZ News (CBS Boston) “took advantage of city taxpayers” “betrayed the trust” “untruthful” “putting on an act”
  • 1/26/22 broadcasted on WPRI Channel 12 Coverage “putting on an act” “He abused the department” “betrayed the trust” “took advantage of city taxpayers”
  • 1/27/22 broadcasted on AP Channel 7 Coverage “dishonesty and untruthfulness” “betrayed the trust” “took advantage of city taxpayers”
  • 1/27/22 broadcasted on AP Media Coverage “betrayed the trust” “dishonesty and untruthfulness” “took advantage of city taxpayers”
  • 1/27/22 broadcasted on Boston 25 News “dishonesty and untruthfulness” “untruthful” “putting on an act” “He abused the department” “betrayed the trust” “took advantage of city taxpayers”
  • 1/27/22 published in Firehouse “dishonesty and untruthfulness” “betrayed the trust” “took advantage of city taxpayers” “untruthful” “putting on an act” “He abused the department”
  • 1/27/22 published in Fire Rescue 1 “putting on an act” “dishonesty and untruthfulness” “betrayed the trust” “took advantage of city taxpayers” “untruthful” “He abused the department”
  • 1/27/22 broadcasted on Fox News Coverage “dishonesty and untruthfulness” “betrayed the trust” “took advantage of city taxpayers”
  • 1/27/22 broadcasted on Mass Live Media Coverage “putting on an act” “betrayed the trust” “took advantage of city taxpayers” “untruthful” “He abused the department”
  • 1/27/22 broadcasted on Newsweek Media Coverage “dishonesty and untruthfulness” “betrayed the trust” “took advantage of city taxpayers”
  • 1/27/22 published in U.S News & World Report/ AP “dishonesty and untruthfulness” “betrayed the trust” “took advantage of city taxpayers”
  • 1/27/22 broadcasted on WBUR Boston Media Coverage “dishonesty and untruthfulness” “betrayed the trust” “took advantage of city taxpayers”
  • 1 /28/22 published in Claims Journal Contains “dishonesty and untruthfulness” “betrayed the trust” “took advantage of city taxpayers”
  • 1/28/22 published in Newser Media Coverage “putting on an act” “He took advantage of city taxpayers” “betrayed the trust” “untruthful” “abused the department”
  • 1/31/22 published in Insurance Journal “dishonesty and untruthfulness” “betrayed the trust” “took advantage of city taxpayers”
  • 3/25/22 broadcasted on SouthcoastToday Media Coverage “dishonesty and untruthfulness”
  • 9/15/22 broadcasted on SouthcoastToday Media Coverage “betrayed the trust” “took advantage of city taxpayers”
• The listed above comments were made maliciously, falsely and/or with a willful disregard for the truth. Said comments were widely circulated within the community in Southeastern Massachusetts and throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and nationally.
• These publications severely undermined Paul Coderre’s professional reputation, his emotional wellbeing, the benefit of his marital consortium with his wife Jane Coderre, and they destroyed his potential for further gainful employment during his lifetime.
• The above-stated publicity had revealed Coderre’s home address and his vehicle license plate numbers, resulting in Coderre receiving threats to his physical safety, and that of his wife Jane.
• Around that time, Defendant Mayor Mitchell was expressing to multiple media outlets his interest in running for Massachusetts Attorney General, stating his goal of being “tough on crime” and ending corruption and nepotism in the public sector. The Defendant Mitchell utilized his publicized complaints about Coderre in order to enhance his self-conceived public image as an effective public figure and administrator. Ultimately Mitchell decided against pursuing his candidacy for state office and he remains employed as the mayor of the City of New Bedford.

Here is a copy of the complaint: