By Julie Manganis
SWAMPSCOTT — The lawyer for a former assistant school superintendent who sued after he was fired one year into a three-year contract says the town of Swampscott is reneging on a proposed settlement of the case.
Michael Tarlow was terminated from his job in April 2007, after increasing tensions between Tarlow and then-Superintendent Matthew Malone.
In a lawsuit filed later that year, Tarlow said Malone made his working conditions unbearable, burdening him with menial tasks that kept him from his job of running the School Department's finances, and berating him and other employees on a regular basis via e-mails that are now part of the evidence in the case.
Tarlow and his lawyer, Neil Rossman, blamed the stress created by the situation for Tarlow's hospitalization.
The lawsuit sought compensation for the two remaining years of Tarlow's contract.
After a judge rejected the town's request to dismiss the case, it was scheduled to go to trial last month. During a court-mandated mediation session that is required before all civil trials, the two sides worked out an apparent agreement to settle the case, and a judge issued an order dismissing the lawsuit pending the settlement.
But Rossman, in an emergency motion to vacate the dismissal and put the case back on for trial, said yesterday that the town "unilaterally" withdrew from the settlement.
In an interview yesterday, Rossman said the town is now objecting to a provision that would call for Tarlow's retirement contributions to be paid by the town for the two remaining years of his contract, making him eligible for retirement.
The money for the retirement contributions would come from part of the settlement amount, which Rossman would not disclose. He said that in order for the contributions to count toward Tarlow's retirement, they must be paid by the town and not directly by Tarlow into the state teacher's retirement system.
Jeffrey Honig, a lawyer representing the town in the lawsuit, could not be reached for comment yesterday afternoon. Town officials have previously refused to comment on the pending litigation.
Judge David Lowy granted a stay in the case until a hearing can take place on Dec. 8.
Malone is no longer the Swampscott superintendent, having left to take a position in Brockton.
