Judge tosses Buzzy’s case vs. Clancy

LYNN – A U.S. District Court Judge awarded a summary judgment to the city of Lynn Wednesday, essentially throwing out a lawsuit filed by former firefighter Gordon “Buzzy” Barton against Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr.Judge Joseph L. Tauro surprised Clancy and his attorneys Wednesday by awarding the summary judgment on all counts, meaning the case has been dismissed, and doing so several weeks before the city expected to hear a decision.”We had a hearing on the motion in federal court Feb. 9, and I think at that hearing the judge was much more favorable on the summary judgment issue than I thought he would be,” said Clancy. “But I didn’t think we’d get a decision until at least after Thanksgiving and closer to Christmas, and I didn’t expect him to throw out all the counts.”The suit, filed in May 2007, sought compensatory damages, damages for emotional distress and punitive damages against Clancy, who the suit alleged violated both civil rights laws as well as common law during a series of run-ins with Barton dating back to 2000.The bubbling dispute came to a boil when Barton was appointed head boy’s basketball coach at English High School in 2006, despite receiving accidental disability from the city, stemming from an on-the-job back injury he suffered while working as a fire fighter.Clancy, however, believes that Barton’s suit is less about the English coaching job than it is about his ongoing battle with union members in the city, and says a small group of rivals is trying to hold him down.”I think this lawsuit has very little to do with the School Department and has its roots, its antipathy, in my ongoing feud with Barton and his associates in the fire fighters union,” he said. “In my opinion, there is a small group – not just in the firefighters union – who wanted to tie me up. They are trying to break me and the judge, in my opinion, saw through it.”While Clancy publicly feuded with Barton, Superintendent Nicholas Kostan and English Principal Andrew Fila through a series of letters following Barton’s coaching appointment, the suit alleged that the discrimination actually began well before Fila ever tapped Barton for the coaching job.The suit accused Clancy of retaliating against Barton, who is black, for speaking out while he was president of the Lynn Fire Fighters Union from 2000-2004 and since his retirement about issues of race discrimination in the city and unsafe staffing levels in the fire department.Among the actions the complaint alleged, Clancy failed to let Barton remain as Parks Commissioner after 10 years of service, didn’t re-appoint Barton’s sister, Patricia, to her post as Housing Authority Chairperson and made disparaging remarks about Barton’s coaching ability.Tauro says in his ruling, however, that Barton’s argument is unpersuasive because Clancy did not take any adverse action against Barton during his voluntary term on the Parks Commission, rather, decided not to reappoint him when his term was up.”Even if a plaintiff could successfully argue that protection against government retaliatory termination from a volunteer position is now clearly an established right, no official in (Clancy’s) position could reasonably anticipate facing constitutional consequences for not reappointing a volunteer.”Clancy, who throughout has taken the stance that his position was to prevent Barton from further injury while he was collecting unemployment from the city, says Barton’s job as basketball coach at English is safe and as far as he is concerned, the feud is over.”The good news is that the judge ruled that essentially his accusations were baseless,” he said. “It costs a lot of money for the city to defend something like this, I don’t know if the judge will rule that he has to pay any cost. We will see.”Barton’s attorney Harold Lichten could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening.