EAST GREENWICH, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island judge has awarded nearly $42,000 in attorney’s fees to the East Greenwich firefighters’ union for its successful challenge of the firing of a firefighter.
A lawyer for the union tells the Providence Journal reports that Judge Susan McGuirl issued a decision this week awarding the legal fees.
The decision comes after McGuirl issued a ruling in November against the Town Council for willful and repeated violations of the state’s open meetings law in the hiring of Town Manager Gayle Corrigan. The judge blasted East Greenwich leaders for failing to properly post meetings and declared Corrigan’s appointment “null and void.”
East Greenwich firefighter James Perry was reinstated after he and the union sued the town over his firing by Corrigan.
A lawyer for the town called the ruling “disappointing.”
