Cops asked courts for relief on a variety of issues.
The five-year total is much more than neighboring towns. (File photo) Edison police officers and their lawyers have received nearly $2 million in taxpayer money to settle lawsuits over the past five years, records obtained by NJ Advance Media show. The town's own lawyers, meanwhile, received another $1 million to fight those suits.
The staggering total comes after years of infighting in the long-troubled Edison Police Department. Township police officers asked courts for relief in disputes over everything from promotions to the casual use of racial slurs to the "wagon wheel of death." And in the end, it was taxpayers -- not just Edison, but all around New Jersey -- who helped pick up the tab.
Township officials say they are well aware of the eye-popping toll, and have worked to reduce costs by settling some suits quickly and fighting others to the end. The administration of Mayor Thomas Lankey, which inherited many of the lawsuits when he took office in 2014, is quick to point out that no entirely new police lawsuits were filed in 2015, and in February, a suit filed by a former patrolman -- who had already successfully sued the town for $250,000 -- was dismissed with prejudice. The town also won a jury verdict last year in a suit filed by a retired captain.
"The administration has, at times, had to make painful decisions to lessen the cost associated with lawsuits," business administrator Maureen Ruane said in an email. "We consistently try to reduce the likelihood of future lawsuits through good management practices, transparency, and open communication with our employees."
Among the lawsuits settled by the town in the past five years:
- $250,000 for Mark Anderko, the deputy chief who is now out on medical leave shortly after receiving a 12 percent raise; in that same settlement, Anthony Marcantuono, Dominick Masi and Joseph Shannon each received $100,000. The suit was filed after former mayor Antonia Ricigliano rolled back their promotions. As part of the settlement, Edison paid their lawyer Charles Sciarra's legal fees of $500,000.
- $175,000 for Captain Matthew Freeman over a previous demotion.
- $250,000 to Sciarra's firm after his clients -- Masi, Marcantuono and Shannon -- agreed to drop their lawsuits and demands for damages in exchange for having their promotions reinstated.
- $200,000 in 2015 for a group of six officers who said they were targeted for political retaliation in what became known as the wagon wheel of death. One of those officers, retired Captain Andy Fresco, was charged a few months later with theft in what prosecutors said was a scheme to steal sick time. He has pleaded not guilty.
- $50,000 for Adam "Buddy" Tietchen, two years after he was forced to resign after he lied to investigators about his side job working security for a house of prostitution in 2009. (He said he did not know it was a brothel.) Tietchen said he regretted resigning, and insisted the township forced him out because he'd previously filed an age discrimination suit. He settled in 2011.
- $250,000 for Joseph Kenney in 2011. Kenney was a veteran patrolman who filed a whistleblower suit after he reported a colleague for using racial slurs. Kenney filed another suit in 2014, but it was thrown out in February.
The lawsuit toll far eclipses that in nearby Woodbridge, a town of roughly the same population and a slightly larger police department. A township spokesman said that in the same time period it has settled with only one officer, for an insubstantial sum. But that doesn't mean Woodbridge taxpayers also aren't on the hook.
That's because the lawsuits were paid by a statewide government-created insurance company, called a joint insurance fund. Local towns pool their money to form government-run insurance companies, called JIFs; the pool of money that has paid out these lawsuits and legal bills, therefore, is a mixture of taxpayer dollars from around the state that pay into the Municipal Excess Liabilities fund, plus deductibles from Edison. More than half of the state's local governments, including 383 towns, participate in that JIF.
The $3 million figure does not include money that the town spent to successfully fight the lawsuit from retired Captain Michael Palko. It also does not include either side's legal bills in the town's ongoing effort to fire a patrolman, now back to work but on limited duty, who pressed a woman to model lingerie for him. If Patrolman Anthony Sarni prevails in his effort to keep his job, the town will have to pick up his legal bills, too, which his lawyer estimates has surpassed $500,000. The town also brought in a new attorney to handle the Sarni appeal, for $30,000.
In part because of the Sarni case, 2015 was a busy year for the town's labor-law firm. Springfield-based Roth D'Aquanni was originally budgeted for $250,000, but by December had far surpassed that total. The total bill for the year ended up at $365,953, records show.
But, the town said, things are getting better.
"The root cause of those lawsuits was many years in the making, but it appears Edison has turned a corner," Township Attorney William Northgrave said. "Currently, there are only two employee lawsuits pending and we will continue to defend those vigorously."
Brian Amaral may be reached at bamaral@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bamaral44. Find NJ.com on Facebook.