Written by Michael J. O’Neill, Esq.
We had won a judgment of $433,000 in 2015 in our client’s long-running and ultimately successful case, Scotty Thyng v. City of Quincy et al, Norfolk Superior Court, Civil Action No. 2010-01449. That was after a two-week jury trial for violation of civil rights against five City of Quincy public officials for delaying and blocking our client’s attempts to build a house for more than 10 years. With interest and attorneys’ fees, that judgment came to more than $1.3 million.
Read about the original case here…
The defendant officials then appealed to the Appeals Court. Their principal issue on appeal was whether previous counsel years earlier had served the Complaint within the time required by Rule 4 (j). The Appeals Court in March 2020 rejected that argument and all the defendants’ other arguments. It upheld the judgment and award (except for one claim of violation of substantive due process against one defendant.)
The Appeals Court remanded the case on that sole issue of the damages and attorneys’ fees on account of the vacated claim (to eliminate that from the judgment). The defendants quickly sought reconsideration of the Appeals Court remand, limited to the Rule 4(j) issue (original service of the suit). The Appeals court just as quickly denied reconsideration.
This action leaves our client Mr. Thyng’s Superior Court judgment intact that these four City of Quincy officials violated his equal protection rights with a monetary award plus interest which, as the appeal was pending, has grown to about $1.75 million.
Read the full article by clicking here.