Judge orders promotion for New Haven firefighters (see video)

A U.S. District Court judge, under instruction by the Supreme Court, Tuesday entered a judgment finding that the city violated the civil rights of a group of white firefighters when it threw out two promotional exams in 2004, and ordered the city to promote 14 of them.

The two-page, barebones order issued late Tuesday afternoon was the culmination of five years of litigation that wound all the way to the nation's highest court — and has been the subject of a recent flurry of legal wrangling trying to prevent the promotions from happening.

Casting that aside, Judge Janet Bond Arterton, who in 2006 threw out the firefighters' lawsuit, laid out the city's road map. Her judgment stated the city's Civil Service Board "shall certify" the results of the contested 2003 promotional examinations for fire lieutenant and captain, "shall certify" promotional lists and then promote 14 members of the so-called "New Haven 20."

Karen Torre, the attorney for the firefighters, declined comment Tuesday night.

The order comes just weeks after seven black New Haven firefighters filed a motion seeking to intervene in the case and delay any order from Arterton, and days after Torre requested a status conference to find out the judge's intentions.

Since the Supreme Court decision, the city has consistently said it wished to move forward with the promotions.

City spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga issued a statement Tuesday saying, "Today, the Court entered an order that provides the City of New Haven with the legal sanction necessary to move forward and promote the fourteen plaintiffs in the Ricci case entitled to promotions. As a result, we intend to do so as soon as practicable."

She did not provide a time frame, although the next Civil Service Commission meeting is scheduled for Monday at the New Haven Fire Department.

James Segaloff, the board chairman who presided over contentious public hearings in 2004, said the board would comply with the order. He was one of two commissioners who voted in favor of certification in a vote the ended in a 2-2 tie.

"Having not seen the decision, it appears to me that the role of the commission at this point is very, very narrow," Segaloff said. "The judge has instructed us to act and we have to act according to those instructions."

Yet to be resolved is the motion to intervene filed earlier this month. The seven black firefighters claim their rights would be violated if the lists are certified, and attempted to pre-empt any final action by Arterton until they could be heard.

An after-hours message left for their attorneys, Akron, Ohio-based Dennis R. Thompson and Christy B. Bishop, was not immediately returned.

What remains unclear from the city and from Arterton's order is the status of other firefighters in line from promotion when the lists are approved. If the lists are retroactively certified to 2004, there would have been 24 vacancies in the two ranks over the two-year life of the list. Fourteen promotions are being compelled by the court and the city, in a filing last week, indicated it "would have the discretion to promote (the 10) non-plaintiffs."

Asked Tuesday if the city would promote those 10, the city gave no definitive answer.

"The order only provides for the promotion of the Ricci plaintiffs," Mayorga said.

On Monday, Torre filed a motion requesting a status conference to learn the judge's plans.

"The Unites States Supreme Court decided this case in June, the Court of Appeals panel took three months to remand the case back to this Court, and the plaintiffs have yet to receive their long-overdue promotions," she wrote Monday.

The lawsuit Ricci v. DeStefano claimed the city violated the rights of the plaintiffs, 19 white and one firefighter who is part Hispanic and white, when it tossed the results of two promotional exams because blacks disproportionately fared poorly and wouldn't be in line for immediate promotion.

The city lobbied the commission to do so out of concern, it said, that certifying the lists could open the city to an disparate impact lawsuit from black firefighters. Instead, the white firefighters sued, claiming the city violated their rights against disparate treatment.

Arterton threw out the case in 2006, and in 2008 the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision. In a landmark ruling in June, the Supreme Court reversed the decision and also ordered the lower court to enter a judgment in the white firefighters' favor, which Arterton did Tuesday.

In line to be promoted to lieutenant are Frank Ricci, Michael Blatchley, Greg Boivin, Michael Christoforo, Ryan Divito, Steven Durand, Christopher Parker and Mark Vendetto.

Set to advance to captain are Gary Carbone, William Gambardella, Brian Jooss, Matthew Marcarelli, Timothy Scanlon and Benjamin Vargas.

Source: By William Kaempffer
The New Haven Register