A lawsuit has been filed against the City of New Bedford, alleging civil conspiracy, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress in connection with the death of former acting City Fire Chief Paul Coderre, WPRI reports.
The lawsuit, filed by Coderre’s widow, Jane, and the Coderre estate, accuses Mayor John Mitchell and other city officials of wrongful actions leading up to Coderre’s death.
Coderre had been involved in a legal dispute with the city over work-related injuries and was killed in a police-involved shooting in Fairhaven last year, hours after learning the city would appeal a ruling that found he had been wrongly terminated.
The suit claims the appeal prevented Coderre and his wife from receiving disability and pension payments.
In response, a city spokesperson stated, “The allegations in this lawsuit have no merit.”
Read the release from Coderre’s lawyers below:
| For Immediate Release A lawsuit alleging civil conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, invasion of privacy and abuse of process has been filed in Bristol Superior Court against the mayor of New Bedford and other city officials responsible for a campaign of harassment against the late Paul Coderre, Jr., who was acting fire chief when he was wrongly fired, and repeatedly vilified and accused falsely of faking injuries that left him unable to work. The suit has been filed on behalf of Coderre’s widow, Jane Coderre, who despite a Civil Service Commission ruling last year that Coderre was wrongly terminated and denied disability and pension payments, has been blocked from receiving payments because of an appeal still pending by the city. “The multiple injustices committed against Paul Coderre, Jr. during his lifetime have caused severe ongoing financial harm to his widow Jane and to Paul‘s memory in the community after 30 years of dedicated service as a firefighter and department administrator,” said Attorney Phil Beauregard. “The purpose of this lawsuit and other litigation to be filed in the coming months is to set the record straight and restore to Jane Coderre the financial benefits, which have been taken from her by the city mayor.” Coderre suffered what his attorneys described as a psychotic break as a result of the humiliation and very public campaign against him that led him to get very intoxicated and prompt a “suicide by cop” when he pulled a gun on responding officers. The lawsuit does not allege wrongful death or find fault with the actions of the officers. Coderre died in the parking lot of the Bayside lounge in Fairhaven on December 29, 2023, hours after he was served notice that the city was appealing the Civil Service Commission findings that determined he was wrongly terminated and had not faked any injuries. His death occurred in the presence of both his wife and fellow retired police and fire chiefs who were his close friends who knew and respected his long time dedicated service as a New Bedford firefighter. Over a year after Coderre’s death, an extensive narrative about Mayor John Mitchell’s firing of Coderre for “dishonesty and untruthfulness in connection with alleged work-related injuries” remains featured on the city of New Bedford’s website, including videos taken of Coderre by a private investigator the city hired to come up with evidence that Coderre was feigning injuries that left him unable to work, that have since been found by the Civil Service Commission to be misleading and unpersuasive. It is one example of the mayor’s incessant accusations and libeling of Coderre and his family. Nowhere does the city’s website mention that a year ago Coderre’s termination was found to be wrongful by the Civil Service Commission last year. The Civil Service Commission determined that Coderre had undergone three back surgeries and three physicians concluded that he was not able to perform the duties of a firefighter. The Commission rejected the city’s submission of an affidavit from one of the physicians who purportedly changed his view of the case after viewing the videos to say that Coderre was “putting on an act.” That doctor testified that the changed opinion was depicted in an affidavit prepared by the New Bedford City Solicitor’s office. |
