Ex-RTM delegate’s lawsuit is settled

    An insurance firm has settled a lawsuit with a former Representative Town Meeting member who said the police chief assaulted him six years ago.

    William Clark, a former RTM District 1 delegate, claims in his lawsuit that Police Chief Peter Robbins assaulting him by grabbing his wrist in 1992. He also alleges police wrongly sought to have him arrested in connection with the incident.

    The insurance firm, Western World Insurance Co., agreed to pay Clark $20,000 for dismissing claims against Robbins who was deputy chief at the time; then-Police Chief Kenneth Moughty; and then First Selectman John Margenot.

    The town and then-Town Attorney John Meerbergen remain defendants in the case, both having rejected a settlement offer.

    Stamford attorney Wayne Keeney, who is assisting Clark with the lawsuit, said the insurance settlement was a victory for the former RTM delegate.

    “He’s made his point.” Keeney said yesterday, adding that Clark had been subjected to treatment and policies to which others in town were not.

    The lawsuit is one of the many Clark has pending against the town, Greenwich Library, various towns and library officials, and his ex-wife.

    The insurance company’s attorney, James Highland, did not return a phone call seeking comment yesterday.

    Robbins declined comment, and Margenot indicated he disagreed with the decision to settle.

    Jury selection in the lawsuit will continue this week, with the town and Meerbergen as the only remaining defendants.

    “I would not accept a withdrawal from Mr. Clark for anything.” Town Attorney John Wetmore said yesterday. “The town is still very much in this case.”

    Court officials yesterday said more than two weeks of jury selection have resulted in only two jurors being picked. Six, plus alternates, must be named before a trial can be begin.

    The lawsuit, filled in April 1993, claims Robbins had seized Clark’s wrist in the records division of the Greenwich Police department “In a tight grip that caused the plantiff’s wrist to ache for approximately four days.”

    Clark is seeking in excess of $15,000 in the lawsuit, which also charges “malicious abuse of criminal process.”

    Keeney said the settlement offer to the town would have withdrawn all pending lawsuits against the Police Department and town officials – excluding those naming Greenwich Library as the main defendant.

    “It included some added (monetary) consideration, but not a significant amount, I can assure you,” Keeney said.

    Clark has one other lawsuit pending against the town, and three notices of intent to sue. He also has several lawsuits pending against the library, some of which name town officials as co-defendants, and many of which name his ex-wife, Susan Ferris, who is a library employee.

    In one such lawsuit, Clark claims Ferris uttered slanderous remarks to him outside the library in 1996.

    Ferris, whose 17-month marriage to Clark ended in 1990, won a permanent injunction barring him from contacting her in 1994.

    Clark was arrested in May 1995 after police said he was videotaped on three occasions vandalizing a car belonging to Ferris. He pleaded guilty to two counts of tampering with a car in 1996 under the Alford Doctrine, in which a defendant pleads guilty without admitting to all facts presented by prosecutors.

Source: The Advocate