LEW-PORT: Stepien files federal lawsuit

Local News

July 9, 2008

Board member takes removal matter to federal court

By Caitlin Murray<br><a href="mailto:murrayc@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Caitlin</a> The Niagara Gazette Wed Jul 09, 2008, 11:37 PM EDT

It looks like the legal mess left by last year’s removal of board members Scott Stepien and Ed Lilly won’t be cleaned up anytime soon.

Stepien has filed a federal civil suit against everyone involved in his removal hearing, accusing the former Lewiston-Porter board majority and district attorneys of conspiring to “create a more compliant and subservient board more perfectly in tune with the tastes, wants, desires and values of the defendants by suppressing and violating (Stepien’s) freedom of speech.”

The defendants named are former board members James Mezhir, Robert Laub, Louis Palmeri and David Schaubert, along with former district attorneys F. Warren Kahn, Karl Kristoff and Hodgson Russ LLP.

Stepien alleges the defendants planned the conspiracy during secret meetings for weeks before carrying out Stepien and Lilly’s removal.

The pair was kicked off the board last June after failing to take a state mandated financial training course. Both men have said they were not made aware of the training requirement. In March, the state Education Department commissioner ruled the removal illegal and the pair was reinstated to their board seats.

According to Stepien’s suit filed two weeks ago in U.S. District Court, a 4-2 split in key school board votes last year to award a no-bid contract, approve staff raises and opt out of mandatory staff drug testing had “established the emergence of two factions” — Stepien and Lilly vs. Schaubert, Palmeri, Mezhir and Laub. As a result, the defendants began meeting about three weeks before the removal hearing to “conspire, confederate and agree with each other to violate” Stepien’s rights.

Stepien, an attorney representing himself, is seeking unspecified damages for rights violated, including his rights to freedom of expression, assembly and to hold public office. Stepien also accuses the defendants of libeling and slandering him, causing him to “suffer damages and the indignity of being illegally removed from public office in a highly publicized, sensational manner.”

In the suit, Stepien requests “that the court address the outrageous and unacceptable behavior of the defendants” and “establish an award of general and special damages against the defendants.”

Though Stepien is serving his third year on the school board, none of the defendants are currently engaged with the school district.

Palmeri and Schaubert’s school board terms expired days after the June 2007 removal hearing where Stepien and Lilly were charged with misconduct. They chose not to seek re-election in 2007.

Laub and Mezhir’s terms ended last week. Laub chose not to seek re-election while Mezhir was defeated by popular vote.

Kahn left as district attorney earlier this month and the new board opted not to reappoint Hodgson Russ, including Karl Kristoff, at last week’s re-organizational meeting.

Lawsuits filed by or against school board members, past and present, are not uncommon in Lew-Port.

Palmeri and Schaubert both received legal indemnification from the school district in March to fight libel and slander suits Lilly had filed against them. But when Mezhir and Laub were replaced by two new board members last week, that legal defense was cut off. Now, with a new board majority aligned with Stepien and Lilly, it appears unlikely anyone named in Stepien’s suit will be given legal assistance from the school district.

Stepien declined to comment on the suit, citing pending litigation. Defendants did not return calls seeking comment Wednesday. According to court officials, not all the defendants have been served with the case documents yet.

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