Barnstable has paid $567K in police-related settlements since 2017

The town of Barnstable has paid $567,000 since 2017 to settle claims against its police department, according to documents provided to the Times in response to a records request.

The vast majority of the settlement total was paid by the town's insurers, but experts say taxpayers still foot the bill for these kinds of claims, as they drive up insurance premiums paid by local residents.

Three of the four settlements were related to motor vehicle crashes involving Barnstable police, one of which was fatal. The most recent settlement — which was also the largest by far — was related to allegations of employment retaliation and age discrimination made by former Barnstable police officer Brian Guiney against members of the department.

That settlement, reached in early February, cost $400,000. The three other settlements related to motor vehicle crashes cost $32,000, $35,000 and $100,000, in order of value.

Car crashes lead to payouts

The $32,000 settlement, reached in June 2020, went to Barnstable resident Effie Pearson.

According to Pearson's complaint, Officer Brian Jenkins was responding to an incident when he crashed into Pearson's vehicle from behind on Route 28 in May 2016.

Jenkins wasn't using his siren or emergency lights and provided no warning of his presence, the complaint alleged. Also, he was driving "in such a careless and negligent manner" that he rear-ended Pearson, causing painful and costly spinal injuries that prevented her from working. Jenkins no longer works for the Police Department.

The $35,000 settlement, reached in January, went to Henri Llivicota, representative of the estate of Luis Llivicota, who lived in Hyannis.

In May 2017, Luis Llivicota was walking in the intersection of Phinney's Lane and Route 28 when he was struck by a vehicle driven by Officer David Heise, according to the complaint filed by Llivicota.

The complaint alleges that Heise was driving his police vehicle negligently, at an excessive and unnecessary speed (88 mph in a 40 mph zone). It also indicates that Heise failed to slow at traffic signals or grant Llivicota right of way when he was struck. Heise is still employed by the department.

Llivicota, father of a now 8-year-old daughter, died from his injuries "after great pain and suffering," according to the complaint.

The $100,000 settlement, reached in June 2018, went to Robert O'Connor.

The settlement stemmed from an unspecified "accident, casualty, or event" that happened in August 2017 at Route 28 and Old Strawberry Hill Road. O'Connor was injured during the incident, and racked up more than $500,000 in medical bills, according to a letter from his attorney.

In all three settlements, the town denied any wrongdoing.

Guiney's settlement most costly by far

In 2020, Guiney filed a lawsuit against the town of Barnstable, Chief Matthew Sonnabend, Deputy Chief Mark Cabral and Lt. John Murphy.

More: Lawsuit alleges age discrimination, retaliation by Barnstable police

Guiney said in the lawsuit that he was demoted from detective — a position he'd held for more than two decades — to patrolman because of his age and because he reported Murphy for allegedly drinking on the job, resulting in the loss of compensation and benefits, damage to his reputation and emotional distress.

Guiney retired from the department in February, according to Barnstable Police Lt. Mark Mellyn.

The $400,000 payout was reached "to avoid the expense and uncertainties inherent in litigation," and both parties agreed that the payment didn't represent any admission of wrongdoing by the town or its employees, according to the settlement agreement.

More: Longtime Barnstable police detective manipulated payroll records, retired short time later

"Employer denies, on their own behalf and on behalf of Employers' (sic) employees any wrongdoing in connection with employee and employee's employment," the agreement reads.

As part of the settlement reached in February, Guiney agreed to withdraw his lawsuit and all other claims against the department.

Guiney's attorney, Timothy Burke, declined to comment on Monday.

Burke also represented another local police whistleblower who won $400,000 in a settlement with the town of Tisbury, where he worked for the police department for six years.

Eerik Meisner alleged in a federal lawsuit filed in 2019 that he was wrongfully passed over for the police chief job, then demoted and eventually fired without cause partially in retaliation for an investigation he conducted about the treatment of former Tisbury Police Sgt. Kindia Roman by others in the department.

Meisner investigated and verified claims made by Roman, Meisner's friend, that an officer she'd repeatedly disciplined for insubordination had called her a "dyke." Roman also alleged that Sgt. Max Sherman "torpedoed" her candidacy for a position with the Walpole Police Department.

Meisner filed a Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination complaint against the town of Tisbury and its then-police chief, Mark Saloio, alleging that Saloio sexually harassed him and retaliated against him for his interview and testimony related to Roman's MCAD complaint.

Saloio would often call Meisner on the phone and ask if he was wearing pants. Saloio would also breathe in Meisner's face and ask how his breath smelled, and approach him from behind and tell him he smelled good, according to Meisner's February 2019 MCAD complaint, obtained by the Times through a records request.

Tisbury settled with Meisner for $400,000 in September 2020. In exchange, Meisner agreed to drop all pending legal claims, and to never seek future employment with the town, which "strenuously" denied any wrongdoing in a statement, according to the Martha's Vineyard Gazette.

"With an eye towards resolving this matter amicably and taking the town of Tisbury's best interests into consideration, the town authorized the town's insurer to engage in settlement discussions with Lieut. Meisner's representatives early on in the litigation," the statement said.

"While we believed strongly in the town's defenses and believed the facts, as we understood them, to be favorable to the town, we concluded that settlement was the best course of action for the town and the police department," it continued.

In May 2021, Saloio announced that he wouldn't seek renewal of his employment contract with the town, and he intended on retiring from law enforcement.

Police settlements cost taxpayers, even if insurance pays

Recent reporting by the Washington Post found the country's 25 largest police and sheriff's departments spent more than $3.2 billion in the past decade to settle claims that are ultimately borne by taxpayers.

The Boston Police Department paid $17 million to resolve more than 50 allegations of misconduct between 2010 and 2020, the Post found.

There is little publicly available information about police-related settlements in smaller cities and towns like those on Cape Cod.

The Municipal Police Training Committee, the state body responsible for developing, delivering and enforcing municipal police training standards, does not track police-related settlements by town, according to Executive Office of Public Safety and Security spokesperson Elaine Driscoll, who declined further comment.

In Barnstable, the vast majority of the $567,000 spent on police-related settlements since 2017 was paid by the town's insurers. Just one $50,000 portion of Guiney's settlement came directly from the town budget.

The town of Tisbury paid $50,000 of Meisner's $400,000 settlement, with the remaining $350,000 covered by the town's insurer, Chubb Limited, according to reporting by the Vineyard Gazette.

Fighting a lawsuit in court is often more costly than paying a settlement for cities and towns, but even when payments are covered by insurance, taxpayers ultimately foot the bill, as claims drive up the cost of insurance.

John Rappaport, a University of Chicago Law School professor who has researched liability insurance and American policing, told the Times that settlements like the ones in Barnstable would increase the town's insurance rates.

Insurers typically calculate base premiums using factors that include the number of officers employed by a department, then adjust those premiums upwards or downwards using what is called an "experience modifier," which is based on recent claims, Rappaport said.

"So the settlements you describe would increase the town's experience modifier and thus their ultimate premiums," Rappaport wrote in an email, adding that experience modifiers usually take into account 3-5 years of past claims experience to prevent sudden rate hikes.

Asset Management Director David Anthony, who has managed Barnstable's several insurance policies since 2000, said it is difficult to determine exactly how much police-related settlements in the town have affected insurance rates. But he agreed with Rappaport's assessment.

Barnstable relies on a package of insurance plans that costs local taxpayers about $2 million annually, but only one part of that package covers the town's police department, Anthony said.

"Insurance kind of is a patchwork of different policies, some very broad and some very specific, to try to cover as much of the liability and exposure that the town has under all of its operations," he said. "It brings all of the liability and specialty and coverages into one, the larger policy that has multiple segments to it."

Looking at Barnstable's insurance rates

Barnstable's premiums for the law enforcement segment of its insurance package have risen between 2-13% annually since fiscal year 2018, which began on July 1, 2017, according to Anthony.

In fiscal year 2017, the town's annual cost for law enforcement insurance was about $51,000. By fiscal year 2022, the cost had risen to nearly $73,000.

Barnstable's insurance costs across the board seem to rise by 3-8% annually because the town's policies are tied to the policies of other cities and towns, whose liability would affect Barnstable's rates, Anthony said.

"Insurance companies manage risk on our behalf by spreading it out over lots of different customers," he said, "but then they are going to take a look at those factors when they set premiums every year."

Rising premiums are one of the tools insurance companies implement to discourage risky and potentially expensive police behavior, University of Chicago's Rappaport said. And some companies have used a more hands-on approach in recent years.

Rappaport found that some insurers have taken on the role of private regulator, getting departments to adopt or amend written policies on topics including use of force and strip searches, as well as making changes in the way officers are trained, and even firing problem officers.

In Barnstable, insurers have used some of those strategies, specifically with the town's police department. Every year, insurers ask questions about recent incidents involving police and what kind of training officers are getting, Anthony said.

"That helps them understand, are we training our officers or are we just kind of leaving them to their own devices?" he said. "Barnstable has always been very proactive in doing risk management and loss control by doing extra training. It equips the officers to be better prepared to do what they have to do."

Contact Jeannette Hinkle at [email protected].