Gallerani suit against Plymouth dismissed
Published on June 2nd, 2004
STONEHAM, MA - Charging that his former employer violated his civil rights and left him plagued with mental illness, Stoneham Town Planner Michael Gallerani wants justice.
But after US District Court Judge George O'Toole dismissed his $9 million lawsuit against the town of Plymouth after only four days of testimony, the town planner feels somewhat cheated.
"I can't really speak about it because I don't know if I'm going to appeal this," Gallerani said last Thursday, a week after O'Toole threw out the case. "You can't really judge anything on half a case...and that's not fair [that it was dismissed]. There is a thing called justice that anybody wants no matter how you're treated."
Gallerani, Plymouth's former Director of Community Development, sued the town, Plymouth Selectman Kenneth Tavares, and former Town Manager Eleanor Beth for wrongful termination and discrimination after being fired in April of 2000.
According to Gallerani, Tavares -- a long-time adversary -- conspired with town workers for years to oust him from his position, creating a stress-filled work environment that ate away at his mental well being and eventually left him stricken with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
The breaking point for Gallerani came after a Special Town Meeting convened in Nov. of 1999 to consider hiring a consultant to put together an economic development plan, a task Gallerani had already completed.
"It goes back 20-years," said Gallerani of his sour relationship with Tavares. "You'd have know the players to understand it all. This guy is something else."
"This was serious what they did to me. It was years worth of stuff they had done. It was a culmination [of wrong-doings], but that was the final piece. The unwritten rule is that it should never get personal," said Gallerani of what occurred at the Special Town Meeting.
While Tavares didn't return calls for comment, Plymouth Town Attorney Leonard Kesten disputed Gallerani's assertion that the termination was based on his diagnosis with PTSD or the result of a personal vendetta.
According to Kesten, Gallerani's termination was justified in light what he termed a "documented history of abusive behavior" towards employees and staff members.
"He would slam his desk. He would throw things. He would yell and scream. And many people quit because of it. There's only so many times you can throw papers at a secretary," Kesten commented, saying the town has documented complaints from as early as 1990 from both citizens and town employees.
Characterizing the five-day trial as one of the most bizarre cases he's defended during his 21-year career, Kesten said the fact that O'Toole threw out the lawsuit acted as proof that Gallerani's charges of discrimination were unfounded.
"Here the court on its own was of the opinion that the case was a waste of time and money before the evidence was even finished. I held the belief from the very first time I saw this that it should be thrown out," Kesten said. "I believe there was ample reason to terminate Mr. Gallerani and I really couldn't see how any person could argue that this was part of a complicated plot or conspiracy to drive him crazy."
Despite Kesten's claim that Gallerani had a long history of losing his temper and lashing out at employees, Don Jacobs, Plymouth's former Town Manager who worked with Gallerani for two years, claimed he never had a problem with the community developer.
Stoneham Town Administr-ator David Berry also has never received any complaints about Gallerani acting abusive during his tenure as Town Planner.
"I haven't had any complaints, none at all. I would rate his work as excellent and I would have no reservations about giving him a recommendation if he chose to supplement his hours or go elsewhere. I really hate to see his hours reduced, but I guess that's just the way it is with the override. I hope he stays," Berry remarked.
While Berry knew about the pending case against Plymouth and learned about the specifics of the allegations after Gallerani volunteered the information, Berry said his knowledge of the litigation and the fact that Gallerani suffered from PTSD played no factor in the Town Planner hiring process.
"I figured it was none of our business. It was between him and them. I had no qualms about selecting him because he deserved an opportunity to prove himself. And I think he's turned out to be a good hire," said Berry.
While Gallerani understands that a social stigma surrounds mental illness, he believes that people should judge him based on experience instead of any preconceived notion about PTSD.
"Should people judge me by that? I would say people should judge me on my experience here in Stoneham and move well beyond the stereotype," said Gallerani.
"Here it is in a nutshell. If you have a heart attack and recover, people let you be. If you have a backache and you recover, people let you be. The same thing should apply if you have what I call a brain attack. You fix it and move on. It's not something that long-term or unfixable," the Town Planner added, saying his recovery centered around lowering his stress level.
Subscribe and get Home Delivery of The Independent
Save 36% off the newstand price — that's like 18 FREE issues!