Springfield appeals verdict in retaliation suit that awarded police capt. $500K

SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Police Department has appealed a jury verdict that awarded a police officer over half a million dollars in damages for on-the-job retaliation.

Capt. Reginald Miller, who is Black, sued the Police Department in 2021. A nearly 30-year employee of the department, Miller claimed the department racially discriminated against him and failed to offer a reasonable accommodation for a cancer diagnosis for which he was receiving treatment. He also claimed the department retaliated against him after he complained about his situation.

A jury in April found that the department retaliated against Miller but said that it did not discriminate against him on the basis of race or his illness. He was awarded $520,000 in damages for the retaliation claim.

On Friday, the attorneys for the Police Department filed a 40-page appeal, taking issue with the jury's verdict, court documents show. The department is represented by Springfield attorney Maurice Cahillane and city attorney Tatenda L. Chitemerere. They could not be reached immediately for comment.

The attorneys claim that the jury did not have sufficient evidence to find it retaliated against Miller and to award him damages; that the verdict was not supported by the evidence; and that Miller was excessively awarded. Miller is represented by Springfield attorney Tani Sapirstein.

"It appears that the jury either made a retaliation finding without any sufficient evidentiary basis, or confused the dates of the actions involved. Either way, the judgment cannot stand," said the appeal.

Sapirstein could not be immediately reached for comment.

Miller was promoted to sergeant in 2014 and again to lieutenant in 2017, according to his complaint in Hampden Superior Court. In August 2020, a police captain's slot became available, and Miller was not promoted despite being next on the list, his claim said. He claimed in his suit that he was passed over in favor of white candidates.

In September of that year, Miller allegedly complained the captain position was not posted or filled, which the department argues former Superintendent Cheryl C. Clapprood gave "rational reasons for," the appeal says.

The jury awarded Miller back pay for not being promoted in September 2020.

"This finding makes no sense based on the evidence, since the plaintiff took no protected action until January of 2021," the appeal said. Miller testified, according to the appeal, that the promotions he lost out on were "not discriminatory, and that he was not entitled to promotion at that time," said the appeal.

Clapprood also argued at trial that she went " above and beyond " for Miller, allowing him to be the only officer to work from home during the pandemic because of his cancer diagnosis, and providing him a private office when he returned to work in person.

The department argues "punitive damages are to be awarded only where the defendant's conduct is outrageous, egregious, evil in nature or undertaken with reckless indifference to the right of others," the appeal said. Miller, the department said, did not suffer financially, continued to be employed despite his illness and was later promoted to captain, the appeal said. Miller is still a captain, according to Ryan Walsh, spokesperson for the department.

The jury also granted Miller $150,000 in emotional distress and $250,000 in punitive damages.

"Plaintiff's testimony as to emotional distress revealed little out of the ordinary and was largely based on his subjective feelings about events that actually caused him no tangible harm," said the appeal.

The jury, the Police Department agues, misunderstood the application of the law and said it was "an abuse of discretion" not to grant a new trial.

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