Tag Archives: F/V Foxy Lady
Fishing Community Mayor, Top Officials Off the Hook in Retaliation Claims
The mayor and other city officials in the fishing community of Gloucester, Massachusetts are protected under qualified immunity against claims by the city’s harbormaster that they violated his First Amendment rights. The harbormaster sued the mayor, city solicitor, chief administrative officer and human resources officer for allegedly violating his free speech rights when they retaliated against him because of expert witness testimony he gave as a private consultant. The First Circuit Court of Appeals said the officials are protected because as public officials they had reasonable concerns that the harbormaster’s testimony against a local boat captain would damage the city’s reputation and relations with the Gloucester fishing community. more, >>click to read<< 07:39
Appeals Court upholds dismissal of Gloucester Harbormaster’s harassment case
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has affirmed a lower U.S. District Court judge’s ruling dismissing the intentional infliction of emotional distress, First Amendment retaliation and civil rights lawsuit brought by Gloucester Harbormaster Thomas “T.J.”, agreeing that city officials named in the suit were entitled to qualified immunity. In 2021, Ciarametaro, a Coast Guard veteran and reservist who has served as harbormaster since 2016, sued the city, then City Solicitor Charles “Chip” Payson, then Chief Administrative Officer James Destino, Human Resources Director Holly Dougwillo and then Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken. In his suit, Ciarametaro claimed the city officials had “violated his First Amendment rights because they retaliated against him for his expert testimony in a maritime tort dispute between several Gloucester fishermen and the United States Coast Guard,” according to the First Circuit’s decision dated Tuesday, Nov. 28. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 13:31
Harbormaster amends lawsuit – Mayor, admins accused of free speech, civil rights violations
Gloucester Harbormaster T.J. Ciarametaro’s attorneys have amended his lawsuit against Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken, members of her administration and the city, broadening the counts under which Ciarametaro seeks damages and providing more detail on some of his more explosive charges of a hostile workplace. The initial complaint, filed Feb. 9 in Essex Superior Court in Lawrence, charged that Romeo Theken and members of her administration harassed Ciarametaro and created a hostile work environment as retaliation for the harbormaster serving as a plaintiffs’ expert witness in a lawsuit involving the 2015 sinking of the fishing vessel F.V. Orin C. >click to read< 08:33
Judge restores Orin C deal, lawyer appeals
A federal judge last Friday ordered the parties in the wrongful death lawsuit tied to the 2015 sinking of the Orin C to adhere to a previous settlement agreement, halting the highly contentious case that was set to go to trial next month in Boston. But on Tuesday, Joseph Orlando Jr., attorney for the three plaintiffs, appealed the settlement order and dismissal by U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris.,, The order by Saris and Orlando’s subsequent appeal are the most recent twists and turns in the case that has fixated the city’s waterfront amid accusations by Orlando that Gloucester Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken and others tampered with his expert witness, Gloucester Harbormaster T.J. Ciarametaro, by trying to pressure him to withdraw from the case or be fired from his harbormaster position. >click to read< 11:23
F/V Orin C Lawsuit – Lawyers say Samaritan, mayor threatened consultant
On Dec. 3, 2015, Capt. David “Heavy D” Sutherland died in the water after his disabled slime-eel boat, the Orin C, sank while under tow by the Coast Guard back into Gloucester Harbor. Now, an ongoing federal lawsuit filed by two surviving Orin C crew members and Sutherland’s estate has erupted with accusations of witness tampering involving Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken and fisherman Philip Powell of Swampscott, the good Samaritan who is a co-defendant in the case and whose vessel F/V Foxy Lady was the first to come to the aid of the Orin C. The witness is Gloucester Harbormaster T.J. Ciarametaro, who through his Five Fathoms Consulting firm, is retained as an expert witness by plaintiffs’ attorney, Joseph M. Orlando Jr. of the Gloucester firm Orlando & Associates. Orlando’s motion also accuses Gloucester lobsterman Arthur “Sooky” Sawyer, the current president of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, of contributing to a pressure campaign against Ciarametaro, a Coast Guard veteran. >click to read< 08:05
Bad hull, flooding led to fatal sinking of Orin C
The deadly sinking of the Gloucester-ported Orin C nearly 15 months ago probably was caused by structural problems with the vessel’s wooden hull and subsequent flooding, according to reports from the National Transportation Safety Board and Coast Guard released Thursday. The two reports detailed the marine tragedy that resulted in the drowning of 47-year-old Capt. David C. “Heavy D” Sutherland during the final stages of the Coast Guard’s rescue that saved crewmembers Rick Palmer and Travis Lane on the night of Dec. 3, 2015. Neither Palmer nor Lane could be reached Thursday for comment. The Coast Guard report did not recommend any changes to its training, rescue procedures or the equipping of its rescue vessels. That, however, does not mean it won’t make changes in the future, according to District 1 Deputy Commander Brad Kelly. “That is something the Coast Guard is always looking at in trying to determine what should be included into all of our rescue platforms,” Kelly said. “That is an ongoing process.” Continue reading the article here 21:01
One Fisherman is dead, two are rescued after Gloucester fishing vessel Orin C sinks
The Coast Guard rescued two fishermen and recovered a third deceased Thursday after their fishing boat sank 12 miles off Thatcher Island, Gloucester. A good Samaritan aboard the Foxy Lady notified watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Boston command center at about 3 p.m. that the fishing boat Orin C was disabled and needed a tow. The Foxy Lady began towing Orin C toward shore, but high wind and waves impeded their effort. A large wave reportedly crashed over Orin C’s bow, causing the boat to flood. Read the rest here 08:45
