A court hearing is planned for next month on an injunction request by former Woodstock Police Chief Joseph Swanson to block village officials from naming two new top police administrators before his unlawful discharge claims are resolved.
Vermont Superior Court Judge H. Dickson Corbett has set the hearing for 1:30 p.m. on June 9 at the historic courthouse in Woodstock. He has allocated one hour for the hearing.
Swanson has filed a $5 million civil lawsuit in Vermont Superior Court and he also has appealed the decision by the five Woodstock Village Trustees to support the demotion ordered by municipal manager Eric Duffy.
The Village Trustees issued a 47-page ruling in April that upheld Duffy’s efforts to demote Swanson from police chief to patrol officer, the lowest rank in the department.
It followed a 14.5 hour hearing held on March 19 in the basement of the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department with Duffy testifying for about 4.5 hours. Swanson, the final witness, got on the stand for about 45 minutes shortly before midnight.
Swanson’s lawyer, Linda E. Fraas of Manchester, N.H., is asking Judge Corbett to issue a preliminary injunction stopping the Village of Woodstock from filling Swanson’s old post while the legal battle plays out.
She also hopes to block the village from filling the job of patrol sergeant, which the municipality began to advertise two days after the demotion was announced.
The trustees and Duffy will be required to respond in writing to the court this month on whether they plan to contest any or all the claims made by Swanson in his lawsuit and for his appeal from the trustees’ decision.
Duffy and the trustees did not respond again this week to requests for comments.
For more on this, please see our May 15 edition of the Vermont Standard.
