A reinstated Scranton police detective was paid $175,000 to settle a federal lawsuit that charged the city with violating his right to keep his employment records private and ruining his upstanding reputation.
City officials refused at first to disclose the amount, but disclosed the document that settled the lawsuit Wednesday upon the urging of a lawyer for The Times-Tribune who argued lawsuit settlements are public record.
The city suspended, then fired Detective Tim Mayo after he refused to report to the scene of a shooting on June 23, 2008, in South Scranton.
"Tell them to go (expletive) themselves," the detective told a police officer who was told to summon him to the scene, according to an arbitrator's ruling.
"I'm sleeping. Tell them you didn't get a hold of me."
An arbitrator found the detective was "insubordinate" and engaged in "unacceptable" behavior, but reinstated him because firing was too harsh considering his lack of a prior disciplinary record.
Detective Mayo sued the city and its then-public safety director Raymond Hayes in 2010, for leaking information about the incident and his discipline in violation of the city's police union contract, which requires personnel matters to remain a secret.
Before the leak, the detective "had always enjoyed a good reputation for truth, honesty and reliability both in his trade and in the community," his suit stated.
"Instead of honoring that promise to not divulge allegations of wrongdoing to the public, (the city) leaked the fact that Detective Mayo, while off duty and sleeping at close to midnight, did not respond to requests to come into work, and that defendants were suspending Mayo without pay and seeking his termination," the detective's lawyer, attorney Cynthia Pollick wrote in the lawsuit.
The suit was settled Dec. 31, but the terms remained a secret.
Besides containing the dollar amount, the settlement required the city to remove and shred all documents related to the firing from Detective Mayo's personnel file while he and his lawyer watched. It also required the city to agree never to say anything about the incident again. The suit was also settled with no admission by the city that its officials did anything wrong.
The newspaper filed a Right-To-Know request for the amount and other related information on Jan. 3. In a Feb. 26, letter to the newspaper, city open records officer Ryan McGowan argued the amount is confidential.
In a March 1 letter, attorney Tim Hinton, a lawyer for the newspaper, reminded Mr. McGowan about past court rulings, including one by the state Supreme Court that stated lawsuit settlement agreements are public records even if a confidentiality clause is involved.
Mr. McGowan then released the settlement.
Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com