Community Corner

Patrick McMahon's Lawyer: Real 'Battle' Has Yet to Begin

The former deputy police chief's attorney Leon Rosenblatt says Middletown Mayor Dan Drew's announcement that the civil case brought by his client against the city was dismissed by the judge was a 'sideshow.'

 

The announcement that a judge had dismissed the civil trial brought by the former deputy chief of police against the city was downplayed by his attorney late Friday, who called the ruling “small potatoes.”

“The mayor issued a press release trumpeting this victory,” said Patrick T. McMahon’s attorney Leon Rosenblatt, terming it a "sideshow." “He’s really just acting like a silly child. This is not the main battle. The main battle is yet to come.”

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On Oct. 24, Judge Domnarski dismissed the lawsuit filed on Nov. 17, 2011, in Middletown Superior Court by McMahon, who was fired Feb. 23 by Mayor Dan Drew after a Loudermill hearing on charges he consumed alcohol while wearing his gun and badge.

The summary judgment ruling agreed with the city's position that acting chiefs of police "have no statutory protection and agreed he had ample protection in his position as deputy chief," the court document states.

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Rosenblatt said he and McMahon believe the judgment is wrong. “We’ll do what we have to do to prove that. More importantly, it’s a very tiny case in the context of whole overall battle,” Rosenblatt said. “The real issue hasn’t even been raised.”

McMahon's lawsuit argued he was the city's duly authorized chief and that he could not be removed from that position without a hearing, the document continues. The court held that McMahon's position was inconsistent with legislative intent and illogical.

Rosenblatt isn’t certain which tactic he’ll take in the short term, since, he said, the Domnarski “did not offer much explanation of his logic.”

“We might ask him to reconsider and to articulate his reasoning or we might just make an appeal,” he explained. “The real battle is going to be [McMahon's] termination from employment, which is different from when he was taken out of the acting chief position,” Rosenblatt said.

Mayor Dan Drew held a government employee (or "Loudermill") hearing on Feb. 23, which presented  the findings of investigating Attorney Eric P. Daigle.

That report, Rosenblatt said, is “filled with holes and so we will be addressing that. That will be the essential case and has yet to be filed.”

Meantime, McMahon’s lawyer said, the former acting chief is “holding up” throughout these many developments in his case.

“It’s kind of hard to be sitting on the sidelines,” Rosenblatt acknowledged.

According to his website, Rosenblatt graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude, in philosophy from the University of New Hampshire in 1972. He spent the next 12 years working in factories, organizing, becoming a machinist and eventually a foreman of machinists. He went to law school while working second shift and, with his wife, raising four children. He graduated in 1984 with honors from the University of Connecticut School of Law.

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Related stories

  • UPDATE: Lack of Council Quorum Cancels McMahon's Appeal
  • Drew Picks McKenna as Police Chief
  • UPDATE: Mayor Fires Deputy Police Chief
  • City Seeks to Terminate Former Acting Police Chief
  • Former Acting Chief McMahon Meets With Investigator
  • Patrick McMahon Loses Bid To Become Chief
  • Democrats Charge Mayor With Condoning Police Chief's Misconduct
  • Judge Dismisses Former Acting Police Chief's Civil Suit Against City


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