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$500,000 awarded to firefighters dismissed for complaints in flyer |
BY CHRISTY ARBOSCELLO
Detroit Free Press
November 18, 2008
Before four Macomb Township firefighters vocalized public safety concerns, they were hailed as model employees with no disciplinary record.
But all that drastically changed after their bosses caught wind of a flyer they circulated criticizing the department's leadership on such issues as response times, training and staffing levels.
Assistant Fire Chief Ken Meerschaert Sr., Lt. Thomas Habel, firefighter Geoff Smith and probationary firefighter David Herczeg soon felt the heat from then-Fire Chief Ray Ahonen and township Supervisor John Brennan, they said.
They were accused of petty misconduct -- like driving the fire engine with one hand on the wheel for mere seconds -- and all four eventually were fired or pushed out of their paid-on-call positions. "We had nothing to gain from this. We were just trying to educate the residents," Meerschaert, who does fire restoration and marketing for Montgomery & Sons in Lake Orion, said Thursday.
Four years after the firefighters filed a lawsuit stating their First Amendment rights were violated, U.S. District Judge Marianne Battani awarded them more than $500,000 in punitive damages Nov. 6, following a 19-day jury trial in Detroit. Brennan and Ahonen retaliated against the firefighters when they exercised their rights to free speech, the ruling stated.
"These guys have been vindicated after all these years," their attorney Larry Schloss said. "They used their First Amendment rights to speak out about their concerns."
Habel, who also is a Macomb County Sheriff's deputy, is the only one who still works for the department. With the union's support, he reclaimed his job nine months after his termination in February 2003, following the flyer incident.
"It was a great moral victory for us. It was the little guy standing up and saying, 'This can't happen anymore,' " he said.
Detroit lawyer Ken Lewis represented the township in the case and declined comment about the outcome.
Brennan was not in municipal offices Thursday and community officials were unsure whether he would return before his last official day, Nov. 20. On Nov. 4 he was not re-elected for another term.
Ahonen resigned as chief in October 2005.
Township Clerk Michael Koehs said he would not comment about the case because "I don't know that the final determination has been made on appeal."
But, the firefighters are breathing a collective sigh of relief because their names have been cleared.
Herczeg, who has been working as an emergency medical technician for MedStar Ambulance, said he intends to reapply for his position in the township.
Smith, a Rochester Hills firefighter, says the ruling means putting the ordeal behind him and focusing entirely on the career he loves.
"It's a beautiful job. It's the best job in the world," he said.
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