Loscombe lawsuit heading for trial
SCRANTON - A federal lawsuit by Scranton Councilman Jack Loscombe alleging his civil rights were violated by the suspension of his firefighter pension has been placed on a trial list for June, according to an order issued Wednesday.
Filed in 2010, a few months after Mr. Loscombe's pension was stopped when he became a councilman, the lawsuit claims city enforcement of a nearly 50-year-old ordinance prohibiting simultaneous payment of both a pension and a salary violates his First Amendment right to hold elective office, as well as other constitutional rights for equal protection and against unlawful seizure.
A retired city fire captain, Mr. Loscombe had received a pension of about $22,000 annually until it was suspended after he was appointed to council in 2010 - a post paying $12,500 a year.
Senior U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo ordered the case be placed on the court's June trial list.