James Nani Times Herald-Record @JamesNani845 <\/p>\n
MIDDLETOWN - A federal judge hasruled that there areenough questions to warrant a trial onwhether the Middletown school boardand superintendentrestricted free speech at a contentious school board meeting in 2010. <\/p>\n
Judge Edgardo Ramos of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, denied a motion on Tuesday by Middletown School District Superintendent Ken Eastwood for summary judgment inthe First Amendment claim. <\/p>\n
The long-running lawsuit that's dogged Eastwood was brought in April 2010 by Francis Hoefer. <\/p>\n
In March 2010, Hoefer, who lived inOswego at the time, tried to speak at Middletowns meeting but was cut off by board President Will Geiger. <\/p>\n
Hoefer was removed from the building and handcuffed by Middletown police. <\/p>\n
Hoefer had come to air complaints about Eastwood, dating back to the time when Eastwood was in charge of Oswegos schools. <\/p>\n
Hoefer, a former Oswego school board member, filed the lawsuit regarding that ejection, naming three parties Geiger, Eastwood and the Middletown district. <\/p>\n
He's represented by Goshen civil rights attorney Michael Sussman. <\/p>\n
Hoefer said his civil rights were violated, including the right to free speech. <\/p>\n
The parties came pretty close to a settlement at one point. Geiger and the board signed it, but Eastwood refused because he had a defamation suit against Hoefer. <\/p>\n
Hoefer had put his comments in an online blog post soon after the 2010 board meeting. <\/p>\n
Eastwood sued Hoefer for defamation in state court, won,and last year a state appellate court upheld the decision that Hoefer defamed him in part ofthat statement. <\/p>\n
In Ramos' June 6 opinion, he saidcourtsmust construe facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiff in motions for summary judgment. <\/p>\n
\"Based on the facts before the court, a reasonable fact finder could determine that Eastwood engaged in a viewpoint-based prior restraint by suppressing statements that were critical of him while conversely allowing statements that praised him,\" Ramos wrote. <\/p>\n
Ramos also ruled that just because Hoefer was able to publish his statement in a blog post after the meeting \"does not do away with the fact that his intended speech was chilled, indeed frozen, at the board meeting.\" <\/p>\n
Finally, Ramos found that Eastwood doesn't have immunity. A defense attorney has appealed the opinion on the immunity grounds. <\/p>\n
In an email, Sussman said the trial will begin on July 7 and called the order \"a stirring affirmation of the First Amendment.\" <\/p>\n
The case will now likely go to trial, Eastwood said. <\/p>\n
\"Settlements are for when you think you've done something wrong,\" Eastwood said. <\/p>\n
\"I didn't do anything wrong, so I'm not going to roll over and take it.\" <\/p>\n
jnani@th-record.com<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here is the original post: <\/p>\n Judge OKs trial in Middletown free-speech case - recordonline.com - Times Herald-Record<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" James Nani Times Herald-Record @JamesNani845 MIDDLETOWN - A federal judge hasruled that there areenough questions to warrant a trial onwhether the Middletown school boardand superintendentrestricted free speech at a contentious school board meeting in 2010. Judge Edgardo Ramos of the U.S. Continue reading