The U.S. District Court recently dismissed Macomb Township’s former Human Resources/General Counsel’s denial of due process claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C.A 1983, when it held that he was not entitled to a termination hearing. “We are pleased with the result,” said Ben Aloia who led Macomb Township’s defense team on the issue. “We never believed this claim had merit, and the Court agreed.”
In the case of Esordi v Macomb Township, Plaintiff Tom Esordi claimed he was entitled to a “just cause” hearing when the Macomb Township Board voted to eliminate Mr. Esordi’s dual role at the Township. Hon. Sean F. Cox noted that this was a “contentious case” in his Opinion, and then granted summary judgment in Macomb Township’s favor, ruling that there is no federal or state law that gave Mr. Esordi a right to a termination hearing. The Court also ruled that because Judge James Maceroni of the Macomb County Circuit Court ruled that Mr. Esordi’s employment contract violated public policy, there is no contractual right to a hearing. This ruling closed the federal court case.
Ben Aloia and Ralph Colasuonno of Aloia Law, and John Gilooly and Kathleen Jozwiak of Garon Lucow collectively contributed to earn this decision for Macomb Township.