Thursday, October 30, 2008 5:48 AM EDT
By William Kaempffer, Register Staff
NEW HAVEN — The city and its insurance company have agreed to pay $1.5 million to a city police officer to settle a lawsuit, ending a contentious, years-long battle involving a former police chief, the mayor, two politically connected ministers and the officer’s First Amendment right to free speech.
The agreement, reached last week, ends the case that began in July 2002 when Officer Arpad Tolnay arrested two Fair Haven ministers after they refused to turn down the music during a loud, outdoor revival service.
Tolnay was disciplined, transferred to an undesirable assignment and ordered to undergo sensitivity training, he alleges, because of the ministers’ clout with City Hall and his own outspokenness over what he viewed as improper political interference in the case.
"I’m delighted that this very long and very contentious litigation has finally come to an end with an agreement of the parties and a handshake of all involved. It was a very stressful and very contentious litigation," said attorney Karen Torre, who filed a lawsuit against then-Chief Melvin H. Wearing on Tolnay’s behalf. She and Tolnay won a verdict in federal court and then waged a battle on a second front to collect it after the city indicated it would not indemnify Wearing for the jury’s punitive damages, which constitute the bulk of the award.
While she believed the settlement was in the interest of both sides, she said she was neither pleased nor forgiving of how Tolnay was treated, and what she viewed as dishonest post-verdict maneuvering by the city in an effort to dodge paying the award.
"They’re paying us," said Torre. "They’re paying us a very large sum of money. Does that mean I feel any differently about the conduct I saw occurring in that case? No. But am I pleased that the fight is over in this case? You bet. It was an ugly fight."
The city’s portion of the settlement is $900,000, half paid now and the other half at the beginning of the next fiscal year. Its insurance carrier will pay $600,000.
John Ward, the city’s corporation counsel, said the decision to settle was based on risk assessments. If the city were to proceed and lose, it could have been out more money.
In 2005, a federal jury awarded Tolnay $903.84 in lost wages, $150,000 for emotional distress and $5 million in punitive damages. The punitive amount later was reduced by a judge to $1.35 million. With legal fees and interest, Torre estimated the total had ballooned to about $2.2 million and counting.
The city appealed the verdict, and with oral arguments set to begin this week at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, settlement talks last week were in the eleventh hour.
In the end, the city’s litigation settlement committee voted unanimously to approve the payment. It was agreed upon in court. The hearing at the Second Circuit Court was a wild card for both sides, which might explain the agreement. The panel could have upheld the verdict, upheld the verdict with a lower judgment, or sent the case back to District Court for a new trial, which would most likely amount to a sequel of prominent officials being summoned to the witness stand.
The original trial put some top city officials in an uncomfortable spot.
Mayor John DeStefano Jr., Wearing, and Francisco Ortiz, Wearing’s successor as chief, among others, were subpoenaed to testify and questioned about whether they intervened in the ministers’ cases for political reasons.
The charges against the ministers were dismissed at Wearing’s request before they ever appeared in court, and DeStefano personally appeared at the Second Star of Jacob to apologize to the congregation.
Tolnay was suspended in August 2002 after a tense meeting with Wearing in which the officer voiced his displeasure at the politically infused situation.
Asked if the decision to settle was based in part on political volatility of the case, Ward said it was not a factor.
After the verdict, the case took another twist when the city indicated it would not indemnify Wearing for punitive damages, prompting Torre to again subpoena DeStefano and other top city officials to testify. The city hired a lawyer for them to try to prevent it.
Wearing sued the city in June this year after Torre moved to seize his bank accounts and tow his "Cadillacs from his driveway," she said.
The city settled that lawsuit in July with Wearing by ultimately agreeing to indemnify him.
Ward said he didn’t know how much the city spent on outside legal fees, but seemed satisfied the case was resolved.
"Tolnay, to the best of my knowledge, information and belief, is finally behind us."
Tolnay, 40, remains on the police force and is assigned to the Statewide Narcotics Task Force.
Wearing has an unlisted phone number and could not be reached for comment. His personal attorney, Hubert Santos, did not return a call seeking comment.
Through a spokeswoman, DeStefano declined to comment.
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