Ex-Cop Sues Town Over Discipline Disclosure

By Andrew Gorosko

A town police officer who quit his post in January has sued the town, charging that it violated the terms of a nondisclosure agreement that was negotiated on his behalf before he resigned.

In a 21-page lawsuit filed April 14 in Danbury Superior Court, former police patrol officer Christopher Vadas, 39, alleges that the town violated the terms of a nondisclosure pact that Mr Vadas’s former lawyer had negotiated before his departure from town service. Mr Vadas joined the police department in May 1990.

Also named as defendants in the lawsuit are the Newtown Police Department and Police Chief Michael Kehoe.

Chief Kehoe declined to discuss the case this week, saying only, “No comment. We don’t comment on lawsuits.”

The court papers filed by attorney Karen A. Anderson, on behalf of Mr Vadas, state that in July 2004, Chief Kehoe initiated the first of three demonstrative reviews of Mr Vadas’s actions, alleging that he had violated the police department’s rules and regulations during five separate, unrelated incidents between February 2004 and June 2004. After that review, Chief Kehoe suspended Mr Vadas for three days without pay, the lawsuit states. A grievance filed by Mr Vadas over the discipline was denied, it adds.

Additionally, in September 2004, following another administrative review of Mr Vadas’s performance concerning his alleged violation of police rules and regulations, Chief Kehoe suspended him for ten days without pay, the lawsuit adds. Again, a grievance filed by Mr Vadas over that discipline was denied, according to the lawsuit.

In September 2004, following a third administrative review of Mr Vadas’s job performance, Chief Kehoe suspended him for 15 days without pay, the lawsuit states. Mr Vadas filed a grievance against that discipline, but it was denied, it adds.

Mr Vadas then filed grievances concerning the three cases of discipline with the State Board of Mediation and Arbitration.

The lawsuit does not explain the reasons for the discipline. In the past, Chief Kehoe has declined to discuss why Mr Vadas was disciplined.

In July 2005, two internal affairs investigations were started against Mr Vadas, after which Chief Kehoe recommended to the Police Commission that Mr Vadas receive discipline of more than 15 days’ suspension without pay, which could result in his demotion or job termination, according to the lawsuit.

In October 2005, in the face of possible disciplinary action by the Police Commission, Mr Vadas said he would resign his position on the police force and seek employment as a police officer elsewhere.

In the lawsuit, Mr Vadas contends that he had reached a settlement with the town before his resignation in which the town agreed not to disclose to any outside parties any references to his having received the three work suspensions in 2004.

In December 2005, Mr Vadas applied for full-time work as a police officer with the Westport, Danbury, and Woodbridge police departments and signed authorizations for the Newtown Police Department to release his employment and/or personnel records to those organizations, according to the lawsuit.

In February 2006, each of the three police departments turned down Mr Vadas’s applications for employment, it adds.

The lawsuit states that when he reviewed his personnel file at the Newtown Police Department in March 2006, Mr Vadas found that the “file contained numerous documents referring to the three 2004 disciplinary actions that should have been removed pursuant to the agreement, and which the town had represented to [Vadas’s] former attorney had already been removed” from the personnel file.

Mr Vadas’s lawyer later convinced the town’s lawyer that certain documents in Mr Vadas’s personnel file referring to the 2004 discipline must be removed from the file, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit lists 11 counts against the defendants, including breach of contract, fraud, interference with a contract, and interference with prospective economic advantage.

Through the legal action, Mr Vadas seeks compensatory damages exceeding $15,000, and court orders prohibiting the Newtown Police Department from disclosing information about the 2004 disciplinary actions against him.

The town, which is represented by attorney Fred Dorsey, has a May 23 court return date in the case.