Settlement

The City of Sacramento has agreed to settle a wrongful death suit with the family of a man who died while being restrained during an EMS response, for $4.45 million. Reginald “Reggie” Payne, 48, suffered a cardic arrest while being restrained by police, who responded at the request of firefighters.

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The City of Wilmington has agreed to settle an FLSA overtime suit brought last year by six current and former battalion chiefs for $459,695.36. The chiefs claim they were improperly classified as exempt executives.

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The Graton Fire Protection District has agreed to settle the gender discrimination claims of a former female firefighter for $535,000. Sapphire Alvarez filed suit claiming she was passed over for promotion, ostracized by her colleagues and unfairly targeted for discipline.

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The City of Colorado Springs has agreed to settle a wrongful death suit brought by the daughter of a homeless woman who was inadvertently run over by a brush unit responding to a fire in a park in 2022. Margaret Miller, 76, was lying on the ground under debris and blankets on a dirt path.

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Southern California Edison has agreed to pay the US Forest Service $80 million in damages to settle a suit related to the Thomas Fire. The fire burned more than 280,000 acres in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties in 2017, including roughly 150,000 acres of national forests.

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The City of Chicago is poised to settle a wrongful death suit involving a mistaken DOA for $5 million. The lawsuit involves the death of Whitfield Marshall in 2019.

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A $495,000 settlement has been reached in a lawsuit brought against the City of Sacramento by an 83-year-old woman who suffered a serious injury when she was dropped by paramedics. Marlene Jordan suffered a fractured left femur when fire department medics reportedly dropped her as she was being transferred from a reclining chair to a gurney.

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The family of a Seattle man who died after firefighters mistakenly staged waiting for police, has agreed to settle their $10 million wrongful death suit for $1.8 million. William Yurek died on November 2, 2021 following 911 calls reporting that he was experiencing chest pain and difficulty breathing.

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Los Angeles County has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by a fire captain who was shot by a firefighter in 2021. The settlement calls for a payment of $2.6 million to Captain Arnoldo V. Sandoval, who suffered serious injuries in the incident that occurred at Station 81.

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The North Carolina Office of Emergency Medical Services has agreed to grant accommodations to a deaf firefighter with a learning disability that will allow him to retake the EMT final exam. Austin Freidt, a volunteer firefighter with the Cornatzer-Dulin Volunteer Fire Department, filed suit in 2021 after having failed the exam “multiple times.”

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The City of Tulsa has agreed to settle an overtime lawsuit with over 500 current and former Tulsa firefighters for $1,060,000. The suit was filed in January, 2022 by thirteen Tulsa firefighters alleging the city was not properly paying overtime.

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The United States Tax Court has ruled that the proceeds from the settlement of a sexual harassment lawsuit is considered to be income, and thus subject to federal income tax. The case involved a San Francisco firefighter who filed suit in 2017, and settled in 2018.

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A class action sexual harassment lawsuit brought against a Canadian fire department has resulted in a novel settlement that will award victims between $10,000 and $285,000. The suit was brought last year by two female firefighters against the Leduc Fire Services, in Ontario.

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A $425,000 settlement has been reached in a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by a former firefighter in Harrison, New York. The lawsuit was filed last year by the US Department of Justice on behalf of Angela Bommarito, naming Town of Harrison, its police chief, Harrison Volunteer Fire Department No. 1, and Fire District Number Two of Harrison.

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