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Defendants File to Move Brown Lawsuit to Federal Court

Posted on: Wednesday, 28 December 2005, 18:00 CST

By Dan Bustard, Eagle Times, Claremont, N.H.

Dec. 27--ROCKINGHAM -- The school district and officials being sued by their former superintendent filed this week to move the civil lawsuit into federal court.

The attorney representing defendants Windham Northeast Supervisory Union, Lisa Dufresne, Denise Randall, Ken Dufort, Rod Lawrence, Sandra Stevens, Russell Capron and Timothy Vincent filed a notice of removal of civil action Wednesday in U.S. District Court regarding the lawsuit filed by former superintendent Len Brown earlier this month.

The move was made with the support of John Paul Faignant, the Rutland attorney representing Brown.

"I invited them to do that," Faignant said Thursday. "I am very pleased. It gives me much broader subpoena power across state lines." Brown is accusing the district, school board members from Athens and Grafton and an attorney representing the district's insurance company of an assortment of charges, including breach of contract, fraud, bad faith and violation of due process.

With Brown claiming his constitutional rights have been violated, moving the case to federal court is an option. Faignant said he was reluctant to file a federal suit due to the amount of state law issues being raised, but he is welcoming the move.

The attorney also expects the case to move faster than if it had stayed in Windham Superior Court.

In the lawsuit, Brown is seeking unspecified punitive damages and uses the lawsuit to describe a "dysfunctional" school district where employees can ignore or challenge administrators and be protected by school board members.

The lawsuit also claims a board member within the district caused him not to be considered for a job in Athol, Mass.

The lawsuit also alleges Timothy Vincent, an attorney for the Vermont School Board Insurance Trust, took part in a scheme to lessen the trust's liability involving a Grafton Elementary School employee by getting Brown to resign earlier this year.

Brown's resignation was accepted by the WNESU Board on May 19 after what the lawsuit describes as maneuvering on the part of Vincent and the Athens-Grafton board members, stemming from a complaint brought against Brown by "Jane Doe," a Grafton Elementary School employee.

Faignant said the WNESU and Athens-Grafton boards acted as one to remove Brown from his position, despite never providing Brown with the complaint or the report issued after it was investigated.

WNESU Board Chairman Stephen Fine wrote a supportive letter of reference for Brown after his resignation. But after the lawsuit was filed, Fine released a statement the suit was unfortunate and urged school board members to refrain from commenting.

The lawsuit claims Vincent acted to protect the school district from financial liability in dealing with Jane Doe's complaint, essentially by limiting Brown's rights and eventually helping school board members remove him from the superintendent's position. The lawsuit said the WNESU and Athens-Grafton boards acted illegally as one board, held meetings on the complaint over Brown's objections and struck a deal with Jane Doe as a pretext to terminate Brown.

The suit focuses on Vincent's role, claiming he asked Jane Doe what she would like to see happen, covered up her job deficiencies with help from school board members and advocated for Brown's removal.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Eagle Times, Claremont, N.H.

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Source: Eagle Times, Claremont, New Hampshire

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