Borough will pay $530,000 to cop denied promotion

Courtesy of Bergen Record

Saturday, January 23, 2010
BY ASHLEY KINDERGAN
The Record
STAFF Writer

DUMONT – The borough has approved a final settlement of a 2003 lawsuit filed by a police officer who claimed he was harassed and denied a promotion after attempting to expose a coverup of the drunken driving arrest of a former councilman.

A state Superior Court jury in Hackensack awarded former police officer Patrick Bland $367,866 in February for punitive damages and back pay that he missed as a result of being denied a promotion to sergeant. After trial, award of attorneys' fees and other costs brought the payout up to about $587,315.

Dumont and its insurer appealed the award and reached a settlement with Bland's lawyers, said borough attorney Gregg Paster.

Dumont's insurer will pay a lump sum of $530,000 to Bland, and the borough will have to pay the company back $165,000 of that over six years.

This year Dumont must pay $30,000 toward the settlement. Payments will be $27,000 every year thereafter until 2015.

Bland's suit stemmed from an incident in 2000, when Republican Councilman Philip Fredericks was pulled over for drunken driving. Bland's suit said that officials who are no longer in office, including former Mayor Donald Winant and former Police Chief Michael Affrunti, tried to cover up the arrest of Fredericks.

Bland's suit said he was harassed and denied promotions in retaliation after reporting the incident to the Prosecutor's Office.