Former Buffalo Police Officer Cariol J. Horne lost her latest courtroom battle Friday in her attempt to have her firing overturned, but her attorney has several more steps to take before any ruling on the merits of that firing.
State Supreme Court Justice Joseph G. Makowski ruled against Horne and her attorney Anthony L. Pendergrass on a procedural point Friday, following three hours of courtroom arguments and rulings.
Pendergrass contended that the disciplinary hearing that led to Horne's firing was not valid because Police Commissioner H. McCarthy Gipson never provided a "written designation" of the hearing officer, as required under a specific section of Civil Service law.
Diane T. O'Gorman, the police department attorney, argued that the hearing was held legally under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the city and the Police Benevolent Association, not under the Civil Service section cited by Pendergrass.
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Makowski sided with O'Gorman on that point.
"In the view of this court, it is the CBA [not Civil Service law] that governs the parties' procedural rights," Makowski said in a more than hour-long decision Friday afternoon.
The judge emphasized several times that he was not ruling on the merits of what was said during the hearing that led to Horne's firing.
Horne was fired in May, based on recommendations from hearing officer Thomas A. Rinaldo, after she was found guilty on 11 of 13 internal charges for violating departmental rules in a 2006 incident. She was accused of fighting with other officers she claims were beating a civilian in November 2006 while investigating a domestic-dispute call.
Following Friday's ruling, Pendergrass indicated that he has filed another motion questioning Rinaldo's jurisdiction as the hearing officer. Arguments on that motion will be heard at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 3.
Pendergrass also said he would appeal Friday's decision.
In his ruling, Makowski pointed out that Pendergrass' motion was not based on any "new facts," a key requirement under the law. He also cited multiple court precedents that allow a municipal Collective Bargaining Agreement's rules to supersede some Civil Service procedures.
e-mail: gwarner@buffnews.com
