Bob La Trémouille reports:
I have submitted the following letter to the Cambridge Chronicle. The preceding report goes into more detail.
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Editor
Cambridge Chronicle
You recently reported a jury decision in a civil rights action against the City of Cambridge.
The jury found that the Cambridge had harmed the plaintiff in an amount of slightly over a million dollars and the jury awarded additional damages as punitive damages in the amount of $3.5 million to be paid by Cambridge.
I hope that you and your readers understand what happened here.
The plaintiff filed a civil rights action. The action first alleged that she had been mistreated in her workplace. The action had a second allegation. The second allegation said that she had been harmed by the city because she had filed the original civil rights complaint. This technical term for this second complaint is "retaliation."
The combined jury verdicts said (1) that the plaintiff’s original complaint had not been proven, but (2) that the city’s retaliation against the plaintiff was flatly and simply outrageous.
So the juries (1) awarded nothing on the original complaint, (2) awarded $1 million plus as actual damages on the retaliation complaint and (3) awarded $3.5 million to show its contempt for the city in the city’’s retaliation against the plaintiff, in addition to and above real damages.
We have a really bad city government. Cambridge’s city government routinely does outrageously nasty things and then sits back and says nothing.
The most we have gotten out of the heartless animal abuse being inflicted on the Charles River White Geese has been one statement from one councilor which translates as:
"How dare you object to my heartless abuse of the Charles River White Geese. This is the little guy. I have an absolute right to abuse the little guy."
Kathy Podgers has now gotten two findings of probable cause of discrimination against the city from the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. The responses from city pols have included a response which translates as:
"How dare you object to our treatment of Kathy Podgers. She is the little guy. We have an absolute right to abuse the little guy."
This appears to be a normal mentality from the City.
The jury has responded to this mentality. The jury has responded $3.5 million worth. Above and beyond real harm.
The jury is a heck of a lot more normal than the government of the City of Cambridge.
$3.5 million dollars in penalties to express contempt for heartless behavior by the government of the City of Cambridge!!!
Damn good jury.
