City attorneys have filed a 92-page brief seeking to appeal a $750,000 judgment for two former top officers who won an age discrimination lawsuit against the Chattanooga Police Department.
The brief, filed with the Tennessee Court of Appeals, states jurors in the age-discrimination case should have known about evidence showing employee misconduct, such as hundreds of sexually explicit e-mails found on former Deputy Chief T.E. “Skip” Vaughn’s computer after his position was eliminated.
“The pictures, depicting an assortment of sexual acts and pictures of male and female genitalia, were marked for identification and placed in envelopes,” the brief states. “Vaughn acknowledged that sending photographs of this nature through his city e-mail account was probably a violation of policy, although he testified that it was common practice.”
Lee Davis, Vaughn’s attorney, said he plans to file a response to the critique of the chancellor’s and jurors’ decision within 30 days.
“We believe the jury rendered the right and proper verdict,” Davis said.
The brief also argues that the jury verdict for former Deputy Chief Charles Cooke, which included pay until age 62, was speculative and contrary to law in age-discrimination cases.
Such awards are generally intelligent guesswork, the brief states, and tied to Cooke’s future at the job from which he was discharged and the employee’s potential future employment and earnings.
In testimony during the age-discrimination trial, Cooke said he did not have any employment income after June 2007 and has been able to live off his retirement since that time, the brief states.
“Cooke has only applied for four jobs since 2007,” the brief states. “He testified at trial that he resigned himself to be a ‘house husband’.”
Vaughn was 59 years old and Cooke was 49 in 2007, when the Chattanooga Police Department removed them from their jobs as deputies who answered directly to former Chief Freeman Cooper.
Attorneys for the city have said the men’s positions were eliminated for budgetary reasons.
Contact Joan Garrett at jgarrett@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6601.