Jury finds town officials wrongly fired Vann

Delaware State News

DOVER — A Superior Court jury has found that Cheswold officials defamed a former town police chief and wrongly fired him after he reported a possible misdeed by one of their colleagues.

Jurors on Thursday awarded the ex-chief, Robbin Vann, nearly $300,000 on claims stemming from his dismissal in 2005.

"More important for me was to restore my name," Mr. Vann said. "That’s worth more than money. I feel vindicated."

He contended his termination was revenge for being a "whistle blower" who asked state police and the Delaware attorney general’s office to investigate whether the minutes of a 2004 Town Council meeting had been altered by Edward Ryan, a town council member, who became town manager.

The alleged alteration involved the minutes of the meeting in which the council later said it had hired Mr. Ryan as manager. Mr. Vann said he sought an investigation after one council member told him no vote on the hiring had occurred in the session.

The jury, which heard three days of testimony before deliberating for three hours, awarded Mr. Vann $244,000 because the firing allegedly violated his contract and $45,000 under his whistle blower claim. It also found the town guilty of defamation of character, but awarded damages of only $1, which is all he requested.

Mr. Vann’s attorney, Benjamin Schwartz, said the defamation claim was based on a formal statement from council that was published in the Delaware State News and Dover Post. Mr. Schwartz said proving the statement cost Mr. Vann money would have been difficult, but a symbolic $1 was sought "to prove the point they went out to intentionally defame Chief Vann."

Town officials maintained Mr. Vann was insubordinate toward then-Mayor Peter Diakos, failed to follow town policies and made an unauthorized purchase of cell phones for himself and another officer.

The case bounced between Superior and Delaware Supreme courts before finally going to trial this week.

"I really feel my career was damaged," said Mr. Vann, 52, who spent 26 years in police work but has not found a job in law enforcement since his dismissal. He is an account manager with Bank of America in Newark.

Cheswold Mayor Donald Tinari, who was not in office at the time of Mr. Vann’s firing and was not named in the lawsuit, declined to comment on the outcome of the trial or whether the town will appeal.

Mr. Diakos also declined to comment. He was an individual defendant in the lawsuit, as were the other council members in office at the time: Richard Ziegenhorn, Conchetta Edel, Richard H. Seeney, James O. Plummer III and Robert W. Sine. Only Mr. Sine remains in office. Attempts to reach the other individual defendants were unavailing, as were attempts to reach current council members other than Mayor Tinari.

Attorney Ronald G. Poliquin, who represented the town, was unavailable.