Pa. Paramedic`s Lawsuit Against Officials Dismissed

Jan. 07--A civil lawsuit filed in federal court by a Wilkes-Barreparamedic, who claimed Mayor Tom Leighton wrongly accused him of running a satirical Facebook page mocking Leighton and his administration, was dismissed Tuesday.

In his lawsuit filed in September 2013, paramedic Tyler Hammond claimed the city attempted to discipline him based on suspicion he was behind the Facebook page. He alleged he faced an employment disciplinary hearing in September 2013 and claimed Leighton had city police open a criminal investigation the following month to determine whether he was impersonating the mayor online, saying Leighton "would be the only person concerned about someone impersonating him."

Both the employment hearing and criminal investigation were retaliation for a previous 2009 lawsuit he and his wife filed against Leighton regarding alleged "corrupt dealings" behind the sale of the Old River Road Bakery, he claimed.

However, because Hammond never alleged he was disciplined -- by either employment or criminal actions -- the city and Leighton motioned for the court to dismiss the lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge Malachy Mannion in an opinion filed Tuesday dismissed the lawsuit, saying Hammond "failed to sufficiently allege the second element of the claim, that he suffered any retaliatory action sufficient to deter him from exercising his rights" to free speech. He wasn't charged or arrested, and attending a hearing was "not a sufficient adverse action to sustain a First Amendment retaliation claim."

This was the second of Hammond's lawsuits Mannion had dismissed.

In the 2009 lawsuit, Hammond and his wife Antonia Hammond wanted to buy a sliver of the bakery property and alleged Leighton and assistant city attorney William Vinsko completed a "backdoor deal" when the city abruptly pulled the property from a September 2009 tax sale and agreed to sell it to then-towing contractor and Leighton campaign contributor Leo Glodzik III. The city had planned to sell the property to Glodzik for $38,000, far below the county assessed value of $478,300. The sale was called off after the lawsuit. Harrold's Pharmacy eventually purchased the property to build a new pharmacy.

In June, Mannion dismissed the bakery lawsuit, which the Hammonds had filed against Leighton, Vinsko, the city, and Glodzik. The Hammonds have appealed.

jseibel@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2110, @cvseibel

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