More than $1.5 million lost by Mayor Ron Littlefield and the City of Chattanooga in 2011 for wrongful termination of Police Officers

Todays' jury verdict of  $680,000 in favor of Chattanooga Police Officer Mickel Hoback is the second time this year that the city of Chattanooga has been ordered to pay out for wrongfully terminating their own officers.  In March of this year the city paid $840,000 to long time CPD Asst. Chiefs Skip Vaugh and Charles Cooke for their wrongful termination.  That totals $1,520,000.00 in awards for terminations approved by Mayor Ron Littlefield. These are not easy cases to prove and historically juries have been sympathetic to an executive's decision to make business decisions, even blatantly poor ones.  But these cases--both are jury verdicts in favor of the officers--show that jurors can and will act when they perceive manifest injustice toward officers employment.  Today's case won by attorneys Phil Lawrence and Mike Richardson was about the Americans with Disabilities Act (PST from serving with the Marines in Iraq) and previously Vaughn & Cooke's case involved proven claims of age discrimination by the Littlefield administration.

Here is information about the award in the Vaughn and Cooke case. Former Chattanooga Officers Receive $840,000. Lee Davis and Jonathan Guthrie represented Officers Vaughn and Cooke.