Town Loses Lawsuit Against Former Miron Appointees

A judge has ruled that former Stratford Mayor Jim Miron was authorized to give the “cash-out” payments he gave to two of his appointees after he lost the 2009 mayoral election against John A. Harkins.

And the town, which brought the lawsuit against the appointees, must pay for the defendants’ attorney fees totaling $9,635, Superior Court Judge Howard Owens ruled this week.

The town, under the Harkins administration, was seeking to recover about $14,500, claiming that was the combined amount the two appointees were overpaid in their last paycheck after Miron offered a “cash-out” deal, according to the ruling.

The town alleged that the final payouts included “excess hours” for perfect attendance days that were no longer used and for vacation days the appointees didn’t have, the ruling stated.

Miron hired the appointees, Edmund Winterbottom and Devron Wilson, each through an “at-will agreement.” Winterbottom was hired as human resources director for $90,884 a year, and Wilson was hired as assistant to the mayor for $50,000 a year.

“The court concludes that Miron did not exceed his authority, and therefore payments were not made by mistake,” Owens said in denying the town’s first claim for retribution.

The town lodged three claims each in the two separate cases and did not win any of them. Conversely, the defendants won each of their counterclaims and requests for attorney’s fees compensation. The full court ruling is attached to this article as PDF.

After the town lost a suit against another former assistant of Miron’s, Eric Castater, Miron wrote in a June 2012 blog post on Stratford Patch:

"Mayor Harkins and his Town Attorney need to stop wasting taxpayer dollars on these frivolous and politically motivated lawsuits, withdraw the remaining cases and apologize to those wrongfully accused by them of wrongdoing."