A federal judge has ruled that a lawsuit filed against Henrico County officials by a former firefighter who was fired after she was arrested and charged with rioting at President Donald Trumps inauguration can proceed.

Rosa Dianne Roncales, who lost her job in April 2017, filed suit last year alleging her First Amendment free speech rights and her due process rights under the 14th Amendment were violated. The suit named four former fire department superiors and the county as defendants.

In a 36-page memorandum Tuesday, U.S. District Judge M. Hannah Lauck dismissed Henrico County as a defendant but ruled that Roncales suit could proceed against four of her former supervisors in the Henrico Fire Department on the First Amendment claim and against one of the officials on the due process claim.

She is represented by lawyers Nicholas Simopoulos and Jeffrey Fogel. Simopoulos said Wednesday that the ruling means the suit can proceed to discovery and more can be learned about the circumstances surrounding her firing.

Roncales suit says she attended the Jan. 20, 2017, inauguration protest on her own time and wore no clothing or other markings that would identify her as an employee or member of the Henrico Fire Department.

Although Ms. Roncales engaged in no criminal activity, she was swept up in a large-scale arrest of several hundred people by the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and, subsequently, charged with several offenses. The charges were later dismissed, says the complaint.

The suit says she reported the arrest to a superior on Jan. 23, 2017. While so doing, Ms. Roncales requested that this confidential personnel information not be disseminated. Nonetheless ... her report was immediately disseminated throughout the HFD.

She alleges she was terminated for purported discrepancies in information she provided them during an administrative investigation of her arrest and the information likely provided them by police in Washington, D.C.

She said when questioned by fire officials, she was asked why she went to the protest and whether she agreed with the political view of the protesters. She said that yes, she did agree with the political view of the protesters.

She explained that she had no intention to break the law and when she saw others doing so, she made every effort to get away from them, says the suit.

She denies there were any discrepancies. She says she answered all questions truthfully during the administrative investigation and that the police had given Henrico County inaccurate information.

Her complaint stated that after she properly reported her arrest to a supervisor and he assured her it would be kept confidential, she began receiving phone calls and text messages from members of the Henrico and Petersburg fire departments Roncales was a Petersburg firefighter before joining the Henrico department.

The defendants allegedly asked Roncales why she attempted to disguise herself during the protest. Roncales said she denied disguising herself and said she wore simple, nondescript black clothing because she feared being doxxed by the Alt-right.

Doxxed is a term used to describe the research and publication of personal details so others can target and harass that individual.

Roncales suit says she had never been the subject of any discipline in the past while working in Petersburg or with Henrico and said she was told when fired that her actions had made things harder for female firefighters.

On April 4, 2017, an email was sent out to the entire fire department announcing Roncales termination.

Ms. Roncaless engagement in this protected speech outweighed and, in fact, had no impact upon any legitimate interest the defendants may have had in the operation of the fire department, the suit alleges.

Her suit also alleges that she was deprived of the fair and unbiased opportunity for a hearing, whether name-clearing or otherwise, to rebut the defendants representations, and to present her side of the story.

Her suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages and the awarding of attorney fees and costs.

In her memorandum Tuesday, Lauck dismissed Henrico County as a defendant, holding that the suit failed to allege an unconstitutional policy or custom that would make the county liable.

Lauck also dismissed the due process claim against the county but allowed that claim to proceed against one of the defendants.

Read the rest here:

Judge: Suit filed by former Henrico firefighter who was fired after being charged with rioting during Trump's inauguration can proceed - Richmond.com