CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. - The Town of Cheektowaga has settled a federal lawsuit filed against it and a town judge. As part of the settlement, the town will hold training for councilmembers and department heads on harassment and retaliation, two of the claims made in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed in June by Stephanie Lewandowski, who for 15 years had been the chief clerk in the town court.
She had charged that one of the two town judges, Paul Piotrowski harassed her unmercifully after she took a complaint to the town's HR department that Piotrowski had sexually harassed one of the clerks that worked for her.
In addition, Lewandowski charged that the town retaliated against her by then eliminating her job.
In her lawsuit, Lewandowski said "from the time Piotrowski took the bench in 2012 until she lost her job in January of 2014, Judge Piotrowski made it a practice to physically and verbally bully and intimidate her."
When contacted by 2 On Your Side after the lawsuit was filed, the town and the judge denied the charges.
Now though, the town has agreed to settle the case by paying Lewandowski $65,000 for emotional distress, lost wages and legal fees.
In addition, according to the settlement, the town will train its department heads and councilmembers on the subjects of discrimination, harassment and retaliation.
As part of the settlement the town and the judge admit no wrongdoing.
Channel 2 legal analyst Paul Cambria has handled a number of these type of cases.
Scott Brown: "To a large degree, is this just a business decision that the town makes in this case whether to settle or not?"
Paul Cambria: "I think it is. If you're sued by someone there comes a point in time where you say all right, I didn't do anything wrong, but am I better off paying this amount of money to have it go away, rather than spending all of this other money on lawyers and perhaps losing and spending more money on a recovery (judgment), so you always have that business decision plateau in a civil case."
Both the town and Lewandowski's attorney, citing a clause in the settlement, declined to comment on the case.
In a statement to 2 On Your Side, Piotrowski, speaking about the town courts, said "It was unfortunately a politically-charged environment that was not good for anybody. Things were not necessarily Ms. Lewandowski's fault or my fault. I'm happy for everyone involved that this matter is behind us."
In addition to the $65,000 cost of the settlement, town taxpayers are also responsible for the legal bills from the prominent Buffalo law firm of Hodgson, Russ, which the town hired to defend itself against Lewandowski's claims.
A second former court clerk has also filed a complaint against Piotrowski. Kim Chojnicki charges that Piotrowski sexually harassed her and retaliated against her after Chojnicki lent emotional support to Lewandowski. In addition, Chojnicki says the town wrongfully terminated her.
Chojnicki's complaint has been filed with the state Division of Human Rights.
The town and Piotrowski deny the charges.
