1. Latest Change.
2. Background.
3. General Background.
1. Latest Change.
The final pretrial conference on the two remaining plaintiffs in Malvina Montero v. City of Cambridge in Superior Court has been set by Order of Court, Dennis J. Curran, J., for August 11, 2011, at 2 pm in Session F at the Superior Courthouse in Woburn, MA.
This is a change of one day from the most recent date which was, apparently, set by the Clerk of Court. Order is dated July 20, 2011.
2. Background.
The key judicial paper in this matter, by Bonnie H. MacLeod, J., may be found at http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/judge-issues-decision-denying.html.
This civil rights case originally had five plaintiffs. Two have settled, I understand, for good sums of money. The order concerns the trial of the final two plaintiffs.
The case is in Appeals Court with regard to Plaintiff Malvina Monteiro. A hearing has been conducted before a panel of three Appeals Court judges in the ordinary course on May 4, 2011. The case in Appeals Court is awaiting decision by the panel.
Malvina Monteiro is a black Cape Verdean woman who was head of Cambridge’s Police Review Board. She and the other plaintiffs filed complaint alleging disparate treatment by Cambridge on the basis of sex.
Her basic complaint lost in trial by one jury. A second jury found that the Cambridge City Manager had retaliated against Monteiro, that he had, among other things, fired her in retaliation for her filing the civil rights complaint.
The jury awarded approximately $1 million real damages and $3.5 million penal damages.
The judge supported the jury’s award in the very well written opinion which I have cited above. She, among other things, certainly gave the impression she was proving the Cambridge City Manager “reprehensible” for his actions in this matter.
The last time I calculated the accumulated award, in May 2010, it exceed $6 million and was climbing.
The Cambridge City Council is funding its legal defense of this case in the amount of millions. The vote to fund the appeal, in spite of the excellent opinion, did not include getting an opinion from an independent qualified attorney as to whether there were grounds for appeal or if the city should pay Monteiro and fire the City Manager.
My estimation is that, if the finding of Judge and Jury is correct, the Cambridge City Manager could be fired without his golden parachute and possibly without pension.
3. General Background.
As in environmental matters, the Cambridge City Council runs around calling themselves saints on civil rights matters as well.
Their claim is a very clear lie on environmental matters.
With regard to civil rights matters, the Cambridge City Council very clearly does not want to know what it is doing on the Monteiro case, That belies their claims of sainthood on civil rights as well.
