Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
Several cases are in the fire law news today. In Idaho, an assistant chief who was fired last April has filed suit in federal court claiming his termination violated his due process rights, was made in bad faith, and was done in retaliation for his speaking out about governmental improprieties.
Terry Gammel, an assistant chief with the Kuna Rural Fire Protection District, filed suit Monday in US District Court for the District of Idaho naming the district, the district’s commissioners and Fire Chief Perry Palmer as defendants. Here is a copy of the complaint.
In New York, a former FDNY fire marshal filed suit claiming his superiors pressured him into blaming a malfunctioning boiler as the cause in the LODD fire that killed Firefighter Michael Davidson on March 22, 2018. Scott Specht claims FDNY retaliated against him by taking him off the case, and assigning him to desk duty. More on the story.
In Nebraska, the city of South Sioux City agreed to accept $75,000 to settle a lawsuit it filed against the owners of a grain elevator for the response costs associated with a 2018 grain elevator explosion. The city had been seeking $120,034. More on the story.
