A jury has awarded $500,000 to a man who was turned down for a job in the city public works department. The city, which waived an offer to settle at a fraction of that cost, vowed to appeal.
Wrapping up a trial in New Haven Superior Court Wednesday, a jury found that members of the city public works department violated the constitutional rights of Casper Vollero Jr. when they turned him down for a laborer position in 2003. Vollero, who is white and lives in North Haven, filed an age and race discrimination suit after he was passed over for the job in favor of two younger black and Hispanic applicants.
Vollero, who’s 63, wept in relief upon hearing the verdict, according to his attorney, Diane Polan (pictured above). (Click here to read her statement on the ruling). Vollero currently works for the city parks department.
The case was directed against City Engineer Richard Miller, who was formerly the director of public works, and two other public works supervisors at the time, Charles Redd and Richard Christiansen.
“In this case, the jury found that Mr. Vollero was the victim of illegal race discrimination because the Public Works department maintained an unwritten quota system, in which one-third of the jobs went to white applicants, one-third went to black applicants and one-third went to Hispanic applicants,” Polan wrote in a press statement.
Polan laid into the city for wasting taxpayers’ money by refusing to settle the case for a fraction of the amount the jury awarded.
In a recent meeting, the city’s Litigation Settlement Committee had the chance to settle the case for $60,000. In a 3 – 1 decision, the committee voted not to approve that settlement.
Those who voted against the settlement “felt it was a winnable case,” explained mayoral spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga. Then the jury awarded a settlement of about nine times that amount: $500,000 in compensatory and punitive damages, plus legal fees. The suit is filed against the defendants as individuals. Mayorga said the city would have had to pay the entire $60,000 of a settlement, but if it has to pay a $500,000 judgment, it would share the cost with the defendants.
“As a New Haven resident and a taxpayer, I find it distressing that the City continues to make bad and costly decisions when it comes to settling lawsuits,” Polan wrote in the press statement.
Mayorga said the city will “definitely appeal” the decision. “We feel it is certainly an excessive amount, and we do not agree with the ruling,” she said.