By William Kaempffer
Published: Tuesday, April 3, 2007 3:00 AM EDT
NEW HAVEN — The city will pay a total of $775,000 to three white police officers to settle lawsuits claiming they were denied promotion because of their race.
The city agreed to pay Sgt. Rebecca Sweeney-Burns and her brother, retired Detective Aaron Sweeney, $225,000 each, and Officer Pete Beckwith $325,000, according to documents released by the city in response to a Freedom of Information request.
As a result, all three withdrew their lawsuits. The payouts will be made in installments, and the city required the officers to sign confidentiality agreements forbidding them to disclose terms to anyone but immediate family, their attorney, accountants or tax or financial advisers.
Such agreements are not uncommon in settlements. In paying the money, the city admits no wrongdoing.
Corporation Counsel Thomas W. Ude Jr. said there had been ongoing discussions involving both sides and, after "evaluating all the circumstances," a determination was made not to go to trial.
"It was the Litigation Settlement Committee’s decision that it was in the city’s best interest to settle on these terms," said Ude.
Contacted Monday, Karen Torre, the New Haven attorney representing all the officers, declined comment.
The settlements resolve three lawsuits. In 2000, Sweeney and Sweeney-Burns, along with Sgts. James Kelly and J.P. Kelly, filed suit claiming that the city was misusing a Civil Service regulation called the "Rule of 3" to manipulate merit-based promotions, and that then-Police Chief Melvin H. Wearing had abused that discretion to skip white officers for advancement in favor of minority officers. The city has denied that allegation and continues to deny it in the settlements. The plaintiffs all are white.
Beckwith, after being passed over for promotion, filed his own lawsuits, making similar claims in 2001 and 2003.
Subsequent to the lawsuits being filed, Sweeney-Burns, Sweeney and Beckwith all received promotions but proceeded with the suit.
The "Rule of 3" question ended up before the state Supreme Court in 2005, where the court upheld a Superior Court judge’s decision that the city misused the promotional process in violation of the City Charter.
Many city jobs require Civil Service examinations when making promotions. After tests are administered, a ranked list is certified and the "Rule of 3" allows city department heads to choose among the top three scores.
The city got in trouble because it was rounding off scores, creating sometimes large pools of people in certain ranks, then using the "Rule of 3" to skip over blocks of people. The Supreme Court ruled that was improper.
By the time it’s all over, the lawsuits will cost the city more than $1.5 million, not including fees paid to attorneys hired by the city. The city’s legal fees were not available Monday.
Three years ago, the city agreed to pay $800,000 to Sgts. James and J.P. Kelly, Ude said. Their individual cases were heard in federal court and a jury awarded them $850,000. They accepted the $800,000 settlement from the city and withdrew from the state lawsuit, leaving Sweeney and Sweeney-Burns as defendants.
James Kelly retired last month.
Sweeney-Burns will receive $5,858 in back wages, and two checks will be sent to Torre as her trustee in the amounts of $106,641 and $112,500. The second check will be sent in July, after the start of the next fiscal year.
Sweeney will receive $10,000 in lost wages and two checks, for $102,500 and $112,500. Beckwith will receive $28,000 in lost wages and two checks, for $134,500 and $162,500. It was not clear how much of the total would go toward Torre’s fees.