Note – I originally wrote and published this article on September 17, 2014, when the case was expected to go to trial shortly. It was delayed, and is just now heading to court this Friday, January 9th.
As such, I don’t normally do this, but I’m bumping the post back up to the top of the blog for people who are just tuning in, and want to learn more about this potentially explosive case.
~ Griff
Boy, just when you thought Belleville students had been screwed over enough in this district.
Wait, hold that thought. We’ll get to that later.
This is the lawsuit that the Belleville Board of Education evidently hoped we would never uncover. And after you read the complaint for yourself, you’ll understand why.
Rather than having you jump to another article to get the initial backstory, I’ve reposted our opening coverage below to get you started. This is a multi-faceted issue, so I want to bring you up to speed before we get into the actual litigation itself.
At the August 25th Belleville BOE meeting, we were questioning the Board about an incredibly expensive lawsuit we uncovered that has been going on for more than three years now. No mention of this lawsuit or its substantial associated costs have appeared in any of our previous OPRA requests to the Board. You can imagine how dismayed we were to uncover one that so far has reportedly cost over half a million dollars (and counting) that took us completely by surprise. And that’s just the tab from the attempted mediation so far. After three years, this lawsuit is finally just going to trial now.
At this point our opening volley to the Board was just about the shockingly high legal fees spent on this lawsuit before it even went to trial, and how insurance coverage for this growing legal bill is in dispute.
Please watch this short segment from Jeff Mattingly’s speech, then continue reading my earlier commentary below about the financial issues at stake here. THEN we’ll take a look at this super ugly lawsuit itself.
Here was my expanded commentary on what Jeff was speaking about:
Also of tremendous concern is that we believe the Board did not notify the New Jersey School Board Association about the pending litigation in a timely manner. The consequences of this failure to follow protocol would mean the lawsuit would not be covered by the Board’s insurance. If that’s the case, guess who pays not only the skyrocketing legal fees, but also any ensuing award?
Yep, you guessed it….you will.
Gee, the Belleville taxpayer getting saddled with an absurdly large bill as the result of the Board’s gross negligence and reckless mismanagement. Now where have I heard THAT before?
Anyway, the acting board attorney Mr. Edelstein attempted to assure Mr. Mattingly that proper notification was given, and that the Board’s insurance “should” cover this lawsuit. We have good reason to believe that response is some fancy footwork, at best.
For one thing, after four years of litigation, you would know by now if the insurance provider is going to bear the escalating legal costs. It would not be in question at this late a stage. That is, unless it is currently in dispute over a failure to properly notify the provider.
And if it’s still a point of contention four years after the suit began, I’m guessing the NJSBA insurance provider has a strong legal argument to stand on, and therefore Mr. Edelstein cannot in good conscience make any assurances to us that we won’t be on the hook for it.
Therefore Mr. Edelstein, I’m going to challenge your assertion that the suit “has been handled appropriately”. If the suit had been handled appropriately, it would not be necessary for you to consider a legal battle with the insurer in court over who is going to cover the costs of this lawsuit. If you have to litigate over paying for other litigation, somebody screwed up.
Please don’t insult us by claiming otherwise. We already know what transpired.
And, if the Board has to go to court with the insurer over this mess, and loses, we get the added pleasure of paying for that lawsuit as well? Conceivably a million dollar lawsuit between a large law firm and a large insurance company? I hope your firm is planning on working that case pro bono, sir.
At any rate, if there was a lapse in following protocol, deliberate or otherwise, then who failed to provide notification to the insurer? Let’s just say we’ll be asking the Board that question until they decide to get their story straight, or we run out of patience.
Considering this lawsuit has reportedly cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $600,000 before it’s even stepped foot in a courtroom, this could be yet another outrageous bill that the Belleville taxpayer will be forced to pay. Count on it being well in excess of one million dollars before it’s over, and possibly much more depending on how it plays out.
And, just wait until you hear the details of the lawsuit. It won’t be any surprise why this litigation was kept hidden from us while we were asking pertinent questions during this last election.
First, I apologize for taking a couple of weeks to follow up on what was said in that meeting about this lawsuit. In addition to the original 30-page complaint, we acquired over 200 more pages of relevant documentation to sift through.
This blog is basically one giant non-paying hobby that drains my life like a browser-based binary vampire. Unfortunately other more pressing needs must sometimes come first before I can allocate time to it.
Now, before we get any further into this story, I want to take a moment to make a very clear point that this is a legal complaint.
This is what one side (the Plaintiff) alleges the other side has done to them (the Defendants). This story has yet to be proven in a court of law, and therefore for our purposes, we are talking about matters that are on the table to be argued in a courtroom, in the very near future.
So, rather than me saying “allegedly” and “supposedly” dozens of times over as I talk about this complaint, from this point forward, assume that every sentence I type begins with the words, “Assuming this is proven to be true……”.
Obviously for any reasonable person I shouldn’t have to explain it that way, but I don’t want anyone (and you know who they are) to be able to say that I was attempting to persuade anyone that these events in fact transpired, that the parties mentioned in the suit are in fact guilty of anything, and that this is anything but a pending lawsuit.
Let’s face it, that would be just as bad as making an OPRA request for the trumped up tenure charges against an embattled, unfairly persecuted teacher, then sending out a political mass mailing to the entire township (twice) trying to convince people that he was actually guilty of those charges. That would be dishonest, inexcusable, despicable behavior. Even more so when you consider that the postal service was used to perpetuate a series of lies that were proven false in a subsequent legal proceeding, in order to achieve a desired political end by defaming the person to influence the voter base.
I don’t know what all that means, but I’m pretty sure it’s a big no-no.
Anyho, back on topic.
This is a CEPA (Conscientious Employee Protection Act) or “Whistleblower” suit, filed by former Certified Athletic Trainer Michele DeMartino, against the Belleville Board of Education, Athletic Director Thomas D’Elia, and former Team Physician Dr. Michael Russonella.
All of our information used for the purposes of this article is public record, and was obtained directly from the very kind and helpful staff over at the Essex County Courthouse in Newark.
For now, I’m not going to speak at length about the lawsuit itself. There’s no ability to do so yet. Instead, I’m going to post a copy of the complaint below. The Plaintiff’s story speaks for itself, and reads very easily as it is told chronologically by what she experienced and when. What Ms. DeMartino was allegedly pressured to do, and the manner in which she was retaliated against when she failed to comply, is shocking.
At the heart of this lawsuit is DeMartino’s claim that her superiors tried to force her to administer drugs to student athletes. These drugs included “numbing agents” such as Lidocaine, intended to anesthetize a student’s injury enough that they could effectively ignore the injury, and continue to compete in a game.
Nevermind actually caring for the athlete’s safety or well being. Nevermind treating the injury with any measure of common sense or compassion. Nevermind the risk of turning what might otherwise be a temporary injury in a developing teenager’s body into a permanent one that he or she would carry for the rest of their lives. No, sir.
Sounds like the idea here is to just inject the kid, presumably in a completely sterile environment like a sweaty high school locker room, then send him right back out onto the field.
“Screw Johnny’s knee swelling up grotesquely….we’re down 6 points!”
When you read the complaint, you’ll also start to wonder – if it’s true – what on earth were these people thinking? How could trained professionals, including a doctor, conspire to endanger the health of student athletes with the use of drugs, for no other reason than to try to win a high school game by fielding injured players? It doesn’t make much sense either way.
By the way, should these charges be proven in court, how should this reckless disregard for the health and safety of our children be punished? Severely, is my suggestion.
We’ll be following this trial very closely.
~ Griff
Click the link below for a copy of the full complaint, and stay tuned for more coverage.
DEMARTINO V BELLEVILLE BOARD OF EDUCATION
Update: We are reaching out to the Belleville Board of Education for comment. As usual, I’m not holding my breath.
Updated Update: No comment whatsoever from the Acting Superintendent nor the Board of Ed, as expected.
Even More Updated Update: At last night’s Board of Education public meeting (Oct 20), much to the outrage of the audience in attendance, the Board passed the following resolution:
Indemnifies, Thomas D’Elia, and holds Mr. D’Elia harmless from any compensatory damages, consequential damages, exemplary damages, punitive damages, attorney’s fees, and any other damages possibly resulting from the civil action filed by Ms. DeMartino. This resolution of indemnification includes any damages, losses, and costs incurred as a result of the civil proceeding that have been brought against Mr. D’Elia for alleged acts of omissions arising out of and in the course of his employment in the Belleville Public School District. The Belleville Public School District will defend Mr. D’Elia and pay all of his legal fees arising from this civil proceeding.
Board Attorney Edelstein explained that this is standard procedure when there is civil litigation against a district employee that arises out of their actions during the course of their employment.
While that policy makes perfect sense to me, my question in response to that would be, what if those actions you take are outside the scope of your responsibilities, you are not acting in the best interests of the district, or you are doing something illegal in that position of employment? Does the district get reimbursed if that person is actually found to have done something wrong? Somehow I doubt that.
That is not to doubt Mr. D’Elia before he has had his fair chance to argue in court (and no one should). What I’m questioning is the operation of the district’s policy itself.
Come to think of it, if this is in fact standard policy with regard to civil litigation brought against district employees, why would it be necessary for the Board to vote on a resolution in the first place?
Perhaps I’m missing something here.
And still to date, the insurance provider has not agreed to pick up the staggering legal fees that are mounting, or any possible award from this lawsuit, because evidently the Board did not follow proper procedure in alerting the provider when the litigation first arose.
Edelstein maintains that the Board will force the provider to pay up, claiming an action that is expected to be taken on October 30 “will compel them to do so”. We’ll see, Mr. Edelstein.
If I were a betting man, I’d put my money on the already shell-shocked Belleville taxpayer getting handed the bill for this one too.
More Updat-ier Than The Last Update: NorthJersey.com just published an excellent article on the lawsuit, indicating that the trial is now set to begin on November 10th in Newark.
Lawsuit involving Belleville BOE heads to trial
One Update to Rule Them All: The trial is now set for January 5th.
Belleville lawsuit involving school board to go to trial in January
“….what do you mean, ‘updatiest’ isn’t a word?” – The court date has been pushed back a few days to January 9th.
Belleville BOE case to resume in court Jan. 9
Update (1/12/15): After 3 years of fruitless mediation and just before the first day of trial, the case has strangely been settled. No terms have been disclosed.
We’re left wondering if that had anything to do with the scathing state audit that was just released.
Final Update (1/21/15):
Turns out that both the DeMartino and Meyers lawsuits against the Board of Education were settled. Board attorney Edelstein discussed some aspects of the settlements at last night’s public meeting.
In addition, here is an article from NorthJersey.com about the settlements:
Belleville BoE settles whistleblower, sexual harassment lawsuits
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