Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
There are three federal court settlements in the fire law news today.
The first is the settlement of a lawsuit filed by an Ohio firefighter who lost an eye in 2008 in a fireworks accident. Despite being cleared to return to work by his doctor, Stow firefighter Anthony Rorrer was determined to be unfit for duty. He sued claiming unlawful discrimination under the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Rorrer’s suit was tossed by the trial judge but reinstated by the 6th US Circuit. Rorrer and Stow reached an agreement to dismiss the suit. The terms of the settlement are not available. Here is a well done article explaining the travel of the case.
In Indiana, a law suit that appeared to have been settled may now be headed back to court. Michigan City’s Fire Chief Randy Novak filed suit against the city last year claiming that when he was the city’s fire marshal, he was required “to be on call and monitor all calls and pages 24 hours per day, seven days per week, 365 days per year” unless he was on vacation, and not compensated for all his hours.
Chief Novak and the city reached a settlement, but last week the Michigan City Common Council failed to pass an ordinance that would have funded it leaving the settlement in limbo. Here is more on that complicated case.
And in Augusta, Georgia, the city is offering to settle an overtime lawsuit brought law year. The suit alleges EMT and paramedic stipends were improperly excluded from the overtime rate paid to firefighters.
