BROOKLINE – A federal court has sent a fired Brookline police sergeant’s lawsuit against the town back to superior court, where attorneys will meet with a judge next month to set a trial date.
The action is the latest in a legal entanglement that has plagued the town and its small police force for the past three years.
A U.S. District Court judge also dismissed one of eight charges that former police Sgt. Michael Kurland is alleging was settled in an earlier suit Kurland brought against his former employer.
In that previous suit, which was dismissed, Kurland argued that his civil rights were violated by an unjust firing.
Kurland lost a superior court administrative appeal of his firing in April, in which the judge ruled that the town gave Kurland more than enough due process before firing him.
Seven other counts that Kurland filed against the town and Police Chief William Quigley III will continue at Hillsborough County Superior Court.
Lee Smith, a Manchester attorney representing both Quigley and the town, said he was pleased the U.S. District Court dismissed the federal civil rights violation, saying the issue was settled in a previous suit.
The federal court chose not to exercise its option for jurisdiction over the other claims and remanded them back to the state court, Smith said.![]()
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