The Town of Wareham won a lawsuit filed by former Water Pollution Control Facility employee Richard Mancini alleging wrongful termination and seeking damages of $125,000 after Mancini was fired for insubordination in 2001.

The case was filed in 2004 and finally went to trial, after being rescheduled several times, before Judge Thomas McGuire in Plymouth Superior Court on Tuesday, April 20.  A verdict was returned on Thursday, April 22 after the jury deliberated for eleven minutes.

"I've never had a verdict this quick," said Attorney Leonard Kesten of Brody, Hardoon, Perkins and Kesten, LLP, who represented the town.

Mancini alleged that he was fired "without just cause and that the town breached the covenant of good faith and fair dealing."  The town denied that assertion.

The case stemmed from a July 11, 2001 dispute at the water pollution control plant.  Chief Operator James Shaw handed Mancini a proposed work schedule that had Mancini scheduled to work on a day during his vacation. Mr. Mancini protested and Mark Gifford, director of Municipal Maintenance was called in to mediate the dispute.

According to Kesten, the trial revealed that Mancini "told his supervisor to take the new overtime schedule and shove it where the sun don't shine... he claimed he did not know that this was insubordination."

Shaw resigned that day, saying to Mancini, "if you want to run the plant it's yours," said Kesten.

Gifford confirmed that there had been ongoing tension between Shaw and Mancini, but would not comment further on the case, saying only that after testifying four times, he was glad "it's finally been resolved."

Mancini's lawyer, John Dingee, did not respond to requests for comment.

Kesten was happy to absolve the town of any liability in the matter.

"Mr. Mancini should be ashamed of himself for wasting the town's money in having to defend itself against this frivolous lawsuit," he said.