Tom Coffin Lawsuit Update
Fulton County Superior Court Judge John Goger has denied the City of Atlanta’s Motion for Summary Judgment in former arborist Tom Coffin’s lawsuit against the City for wrongfully terminating him for blowing the whistle on the City’s failure to uphold its own tree ordinances. APN previously reported on the case.
QUOTES FROM THE JUDGE’S RULING:
“To prevail on a motion for summary judgment, the moving party [the City in this case] must demonstrate that there is no genuine issue of material fact, and that the undisputed facts, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party [Coffin in this case], warrant judgment as a matter of law….”
“…the ‘whistleblower’ statute ‘prohibits public employers from threatening or taking any personnel action as a reprisal against public employees who complain [or provide information] about fraud, waste, and abuse in state programs and operations…
A jury issue exists as to whether Coffin’s reports of his subordinate arborists’ noncompliance dealt with a ‘local ordinance’….Because Coffin reported other arborists’ failure to find Ordinance violations, he reported their noncompliance with the Ordinance….
This Court also finds that an issue of fact exists regarding whether the City took ‘action’ against Coffin [in violation of the statute]….
Here, the City terminated Coffin within a relatively short period of time, less than a month, after his supervisor received Coffin’s report about other arborists and after these arborists requested a meeting with upper management regarding Coffin’s reports. A trier of fact [judge or jury] could determine that this temporal proximity evidences a reprisal by the City for his disclosure of noncompliance. Further, the record shows that the City warned Coffin to stop making reports of Ordinance violations and met with the arborists who complained when Coffin reported them. Thus a trier of fact could determine that the City interfered with his reporting of Ordinance noncompliance. Lastly, while the City claimed that Coffin was dismissed for his ‘inability to supervise his subordinates and promote a harmonious work environment,’ Coffin denied that his disciplinary recommendations were unfounded. A trier of fact could determine that the City’s reason for termination was pretextual, and that Coffin was terminated for reporting noncompliance with the Ordinance….Accordingly, this Court HEREBY DENIES Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment…”
According to Coffin: “The judge did rule in favor of the City on the charge that my right of free speech under the Georgia Constitution was violated, stating that ‘Because Coffin’s speech was made primarily in his role as an employee to recommend disciplinary action and not as a citizen, his speech is not protected from employer discipline.’ This ruling was not unexpected by my lawyers. We now await a court date.”