Salisbury Mayor guilty of civil assault, no malice
A two day trial against Salisbury Mayor Jim Ireton, ends with a jury finding the mayor guilty of civil assault but not malice on Tuesday.
The verdict means former City Administrator Dr. Lore Chambers will not receive any damage compensation.
This lawsuit claiming emotional pain and suffering, filed by Chambers after an alleged incident in July 2013, which ultimately led to her termination. She applied for a position as the permanent City Administrator on July 10, 2013. This position was recently presumed by John Pick, and it was not publicly posted at the time.
The alleged incident that spurred the lawsuit happened two days later. In court, both Ireton and Chambers agreed a conversation led to elevated voices on both ends behind closed doors, but details on the confrontation is where they differed.
In her testimony on Monday, Chambers claimed Ireton came into her office that day “flushed and agitated”. She told the court, that’s when he kicked and broke the doorstop before slamming the door shut and began shouting at her for applying to the position.
According to Irenton, he stopped by her office to calmly explained they could not accept the application at the time because it could have been mistaken as an unfair advantage given she was applying before the opportunity was publicly posted. Ireton testified Chambers was the one who raised her voice first and claimed she did nothing wrong.
During closing arguments, Ireton’s attorney Kevin Karpinski stressed the big issue was not over the job application. It over the fact that Chambers refused to accompany Mayor Ireton to Human Resources, which ultimately led to her termination. Karpinski also brought up the letter Chambers wrote to the City Attorney in wake of the alleged incident. Her pointed out that nowhere in the letter did Chambers mention Ireton’s being flushed or agitated — or waving his fists, as she did when testifying on Monday.
Following the verdict, Mayor Ireton did not have an immediate comment but did release this statement on his Facebook page. The statement read, “When a jury of your peers rules against you, a man is laid low. My thanks to the jury for their patience and time in listening to the facts put before them. The court determined that I acted without malice, and the plaintiff is awarded zero dollars. A civil assault is when the plaintiff believes that they are in imminent harm. There will be no appeal, no more money spent on this case. I’m back to work tomorrow regardless of the outcome.”
Even though Dr. Chambers will not receive any damage compensation, her attorney Neil Duke doesn’t count the decision as a complete loss.
“We accomplished a little bit of what we set out to do, which was to hold the mayor accountable for this actions. Dr. Chambers is a strong woman. The journey continues” Says Duke.
When asked whether Dr. Chambers will seek an opportunity to appeal, Duke said it was too early to determine but it may be discussed at a later date.
In the original claim, the lawsuit was seeking $750,000.
