Expert expects big payday for firefighter
TRENTON >> After two days of jury deliberations, the question for former Trenton firefighter Jesse Diaz in his civil case no longer appears to be whether the city of Trenton will have to pay him off.
It’s how much the city of Trenton will have to pony up – more or less than the $1.5 million an economist testified at trial Diaz needs to be made whole.
That much seems clear after the jury, locked in deliberation since the trial wrapped up last week, did not immediately come back in favor of the city.
One legal observer said that maybebecauseofthetackthe city’s attorney, Michael Sullivan, took in defending the fire department against allegations that top brass demeaned and demoted Diaz for challenging a fire captain whom Diaz’s attorney said was indifferent to firefighter Pete Plumeri using the N-word to describe black firefighter Charles Perry in April 2012.
Since then, Diaz has endured cracks about his sanity – in the department and in court.
In his opening statement to jurors, who do not resume deliberations until next week because of a scheduling conflict, Sullivan contended the firefighter’s claims were figments of his imagination and Diaz left his job because of his mental condition.
Indoingso,Sullivanadmitted the city may have discriminated against Diaz because he is a disabled war vet, experts said.
And in playing the crazy card, Sullivan, who closed by telling jurors they cannot decide the case on emotion, may have had the exact opposite effect by causing panel members to sympathize with the war-torn former driver who did three tours of duty in Iraq.
“That’s crazy to me,” said Michael Pasquale, a Montclair attorney who runs Officers of the Courts, a nonprofit that helps wounded veterans. “He set himself up for an ADA [Americans with Disabilities] claim. It’s almost like admitting part of the plaintiff’s case right off the bat.”
Trenton attorney George Dougherty, who represents Diaz, must only prove his case by preponderance of the evidence, meaning it is more likely than not officials harassed, demoted and ostracized Diaz after he insisted brass take action against Plumeri.
Unloading all his accusations from the stand, Diaz said his workplace environment turned toxic after he reported the April 11, 2012 incident at Engine 7.
Firefighters and a department payroll clerk said brass said Diaz, a war veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, was dangerous and came to work packing heat.
Diaz, who had a valid permittocarry,deniedcomingto work with a gun despite testimony from Plumeri, who claimed Diaz showed him a small chrome handgun one day at the station.
Dougherty suggested Plumeri lied because he has bad blood with Diaz.
Plumeri was suspended for two days, stripped of a vacation day and temporarily shipped to an all-black firehouse following an investigation initiated by city fire director Qareeb Bashir into the white firefighter’s use of the racial slur.
Mental health experts testified at Diaz’s trial that harassment exacerbated his PTSD and he would have been fine otherwise.
Sullivan attempted to undermine that by pointing toward statements Diaz made to a counselor at the Veteran Affairs hospital about having flashbacks to Iraq when responding to calls.
The city attorney also discussed how Diaz secretly recorded conversations with fellow firefighters in which they made certain damaging admissions because he was gathering ammunition for a lawsuit.
Sullivan suggested what Diaz perceived as harassment was normal workplace tension that wouldn’t affect others who do not have PTSD.
Pasquale said the city attorney’s points misapprehend the hallmarks of PTSD. The tendency is for people – even family members – to attribute reactions, justified or not, to PTSD.
“People use it and point to it as the reason for certain behavior when you disagree with them,” he said, noting Sullivan has done that. “It’s not monolithic. It’s a ridiculous argument. It’s disrespectful to his service, and I would also think it’s strategically flawed.”