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A federal appeals court action stems from the closing of a firehouse.
Carey
The city won one and lost one in the case of Denise Carey versus Wilkes-Barre city and Mayor Tom Leighton.
The court dismissed Carey’s due-process claim and upheld a jury’s award for damages regarding the closing of the Heights Firehouse.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit District Court affirmed a lower court’s ruling that dismissed Carey’s due-process claim, but permitted her First Amendment claim to proceed to trial, where a jury found in Carey’s favor and awarded damages.
“The District Court denied defendants’ motions for judgment as a matter of law and for a new trial,” the ruling stated. “Both parties appealed, and we consolidated the cases. We find that the District Court’s rulings were not in error and will affirm.”
Carey filed two federal civil rights suits against the city and Leighton. Carey filed a First Amendment retaliation claim against the defendants for initiating litigation and seeking attorneys’ fees and a substantive due process claim for closing the Heights Firehouse.
Carey filed suit in 2005. The lawsuit alleged Leighton retaliated against her for exercising her right to free speech when he sought to collect more than $11,000 in attorney fees the city incurred in fighting a petition Carey circulated. The petition challenged the closing of the fire station in the Heights section.
A federal jury ruled in Carey’s favor following a one-week trial in November 2009, and awarded her $67,000 — $15,000 in compensatory damages, $2,000 for lost income and $50,000 in punitive damages against Leighton.
Jack Dean of Elliott Greenleaf & Dean, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, represented the city. On Thursday, Dean said he was pleased with the court’s ruling.
“The city is very pleased that the court affirmed the dismissal of the claims regarding the closing of the Heights Firehouse,” Dean said. “That case was dismissed. As for the affirming of the jury verdict, we always felt it was difficult to get an overturn on a jury decision. The court didn’t agree with us and affirmed what we considered a fair and modest award.”
Dean said he doesn’t anticipate the city appealing the decision to the Supreme Court.
The court said there was sufficient evidence to support an award of punitive damages.