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Liability Trends and Traps:Hot Topics for 2020

Curt VaroneAttorney at Law

Deputy Chief, Exeter, RIDep. Asst. Chief, Providence RI (ret.)

© 2020 All rights reserved 1

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Fire Service Litigation Database

• Started in 2010• Includes all legal proceedings involving FDs, EMS

providers, & fire service personnel• 3 categories of cases– Administrative, Civil and Criminal– Excludes most workers comp cases

• As of February 7, 2020: 10,011 cases

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47293998

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Fire Service Litigation Database10,011 cases

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Fire Service Litigation Database

More accurate depiction

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3665

940286 132

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100015002000250030003500

Discipline

Employm

ent

CollectiveBargaining

Civil Service

Administrative - 4729

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Discipline - 3665

1. Sexual misconduct 498 13.6% (was 11%)

2. Alcohol involved 308 8.4% (was 10%)

3. Larceny 304 8.3%4. Social media 262 7.1% (was 4%)

5. Arson 248 6.8%6. Drugs 195 5.3%7. Photo/imagery 165 4.5% (was 3%)

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NFPA Fire Department Profile 2017

TYPE Total %Career: 2,785 9.3%Mostly Career: 2,316 7.8%Mostly Volunteer: 5,404 18.1%All Volunteer: 19,313 64.8%

25.9%

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25.9% of FD427

141

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US Fire Departments

9.3% of FD

64.8% of FD

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Criminal - 1283

THEFT: 489• Larceny 362• Embezzlement 229• Fraud 160• Forgery 52

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Theft - 489

• Volunteer theft: 297• Career theft: 141• Combination theft: 51

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Volunteer Theft - 297

• 264 involve insider theft from volunteer fire departments ($100k up to $5.4 mil.)–Treasurer - 94–Fire Chief - 79–President - 15

Female Thief: 70Husband and Wife: 20

26.5%

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Career Theft - 141• Theft from FF Union – 39 – Embezzlement– Theft - union related charity/activity - 6

• Theft of drugs - 42• Theft from FD – 53–Overtime scams– Stealing equipment/selling

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Criminal - 1283

• Arson 287 cases –226 volunteer FD cases • 140 (62%) involve multiple fires• 72 (32%) involve multiple parties

–35 Career• 8 (23%) involve multiple fires• Only 2 involve multiple parties

–26 Combination

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287 - Arson

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Arson TrendsCareer v. Volunteer

35 Career– 14 structure (40%)– 9 vehicle (26%)– 9 wildland (26%)– 2 trash (6%)

– 8 Multiple Fires (23%)– 2 Multiple Arsonists (6%)

226 Volunteer– 158 structure fire (70%)– 14 vehicle (6%)– 66 wildland (29%)– 11 trash (5%)

– 140 Multiple Fires (62%)– 72 Multiple Arsonist (32%)

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Other Criminal Charges

• Assault 174• Sexual Assault 103• Traffic related 86• Sexual Assault of a Minor 56• DWI (on duty) 46• Involuntary Manslaughter 43• Conspiracy 32

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Questions on Criminal Cases?

Next up: Civil Cases

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Civil Suits3998 total suits

What type of fire department gets sued more often, career,

combination or volunteer?

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Civil Suits

Answer: Career… by a factor of at least 4

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64.8% of FD

25.9% of FD

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Civil Suits - 3998

9.3% of FD

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3998 Suits

• FD Defendant 3365• FF Plaintiff 2412• FF Suing FD 2146• Union suing FD 277• Union and/or a FF 2339

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84.2%

60.3%

53.7%

58.5%

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Civil - 3998

• 2346 – employment related (58.7%)• 1272 – include tort allegation (31.8%)• 994 – negligence (24.9%)• 978 – incident related (24.5%)• 77 – training (1.9%)

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Civil - 3998

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Employment Tort Negligence Incident Training

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What is the most likely type of employment related suit?

• Discrimination 1319 56.2%–32.9% of all civil

• Termination challenge 753 32.1%• Retaliation 588 25.1%• Collective Bargaining 293 12.5%

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Termination Challenge Breakdown

• Termination challenge 753–Discipline related termination 549–Constructive termination 159–Medically related termination 75–Competency based termination 36

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What type of discrimination is most common?

Gender has replaced race discrimination as most common

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1319 Discrimination CasesGender Cases - 479

• Sex discrimination 414• Sexual Harassment 340• Sexual Orientation 19

Race Cases - 421• Race by minority 302• Race – reverse discrim 119

19 Quid Pro Quo

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302 Protected Classes Besides Gender

• Black 250• Hispanic 54• National origin 48• Asian 7• Middle Eastern 5• Native American 3 • Jewish 3

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1319 Discrimination Cases• Disability 159

–Psych: 31–Vision: 12–Diabetes: 9–Heart: 8 –Seizures 8–Back: 8–Lung: 7

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1319 Discrimination Cases

• Age 96• Political retaliation 46• Religion 41• Military service (USERRA) 32• Pregnancy 22

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1319 Discrimination

479 421340 302

119 15996

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GenderRace

Sex Hars

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yAge

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Other Employment Cases• Due Process 334• FLSA 258• 1st Amendment 253• Whistleblower 161• FMLA 26• HIPAA 5 –Note: HIPAA total is 17 • 5 employment & 12 from patients• 17/3998 = 0.4%

Over $425M in damages to FDs from FLSA suits

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1272 Tort SuitsIncludes employment & incident related

• Negligence 994 – Gross negligence 385– Recklessness 265

• Wrongful death 343• IISED 193• Defamation 135• Assault/Battery 108• False imprisonment/arrest 53• Invasion of privacy 49• Abandonment 14

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Questions before we get into incident related suits?

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Incident related civil suitsWhat type of incident leads

to more suits?

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978 Incident Related Suits• Structure fires 402 41%• EMS 268 27%• Apparatus accidents 135 14%• Wildland 69 7%• Vehicle accident 60 6%• Dispatch 49 5%• Hazmat 34 3%• Slow Response 17 2%

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Non-Incident

• Training 77• Code Enforcement 66• Fire Inspection 39• Fire Investigation 25• Fundraising 11• Parades 9• Demonstrations 4

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Less Common Incident Related• Inspection 39• Investigation 25• Gas leak 16• Water rescue 14• POV accident 10• Wires down 5• Ice rescue 4• Dive rescue 3

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• Patient Abandonment – 19 - 1.9% of incident related suits- 0.4% of all suits

• EMS Transport against patient’s will – 7• 0.7% of incident related suits• 0.18% of all suits

• Failure/improper refusal/RAMA – 6⁻ 0.6% of incident relates suits⁻ 0.15% of all suits

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402 Structure Fire Suits

• Negligence 322 80.4%• Wrongful death 144 33.8%• LODD 110 27.8%• Poor tactics 73 18.3%• Rekindle fires 18 4.4%• Subrogation suits 14 3.2%• Slow Response 5 2.2%

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402 Structure Fire SuitsWho is suing Whom

• FD is sued in 310 of 402 77%• Mrs. Smith sues in 152 of 402 38%• FD/FF sue Mrs Smith in 126 of 402 31%• FF sues in 187 of 402 47%– FF sues FD 117/187 = 63%

• FD sues in 24 of 402 6%• FF is sued 79 of 204 20%

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Fire Chief = 53Chief Officer = 36

Company Officer = 24FF = 23

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181 LODD Suits

• Structure fires 110• Apparatus accid. 18• Wildland 16• Training 15• Vehicle accident 7• Aircraft 7

• EMS 4• Gas Leak 4• Water Rescue 3• Wires down 2

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How often are firefighters of any rank named in a suit as a defendant?

822 cases20.6% of all cases

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822 Suits Against Firefighters• How many were brought by other FFs?–Other FF sued FF 472 (57.4%)

• How many were brought by Mrs. Smith?–Mrs. Smith named a FF 199 (24.2%)–Reality: 199/3998 = 5.0% of all suits

• Let’s dig deeper

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Suits Against Firefighters:

• Fire Chief 481• Firefighter 260 • Chief Officer 211• Company Officer 153

FF Cases: 133 involve driving apparatus or EMS, leaving 127

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Who is doing the suing:

Who is Sued Total FF Mrs. SmithFire Department 3365 2146 401Fire Chief 481 359 60Chief Officer 211 151 31Company Officer 153 92 38Firefighter 260 69 142

127 54 34

What does this tell us about our biggest liability?

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Who is Suing WhomSued by a Firefighter

Sued By Mrs. Smith

FD 5.4 1

Fire Chief 6.0 1

Chief Officer 4.9 1

Company Officer 2.4 1

Firefighter- Excluding EMS & driving =

1.6 more likely by FF

1 2.1

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Questions?

Next Up: 2019 Survey

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First Annual Litigation Survey

• Sent out as Survey – January 2020 to subscribers of Fire Law

• Posted on Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn• 936 responses

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66.2% Chief Officer

Responses

“Other” includes Commissioners, Board Members, etc.

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