Mediation scheduled in bullying case
A mediation session will be held Nov. 13 in the federal lawsuit filed by Thomas Vandergrift, who claims his nephew suffered anti-LGBT bullying while he was a student at the Pennsauken, N.J., public-school system.
Vandergrift also contends that school officials wrongfully accused him of child molestation after he advocated for a proper education for his nephew.
Vandergrift filed suit in 2012, seeking an unspecified amount in damages and policy changes within the school district.
According to court records, attorney Joel B. Rosen will serve as mediator. Rosen is a retired federal magistrate judge who has mediated numerous legal disputes. He’s currently a partner at the Montgomery McCracken law firm and works in the firm’s Cherry Hill, N.J., office.
Settlement details pending in cop case
Settlement details continue to be finalized in the antibias case of N. Melville Jones, a Philadelphia police officer who alleged pervasive anti-LGBT bias within the Philadelphia Police Department.
In September, papers were filed in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court noting the case has been settled. But a component of the settlement requiring enhanced LGBT training for all Philadelphia police officers continues to be finalized.
Currently, LGBT training at the police department is generally limited to new cadets.
“There are some important details that have not been signed off on,” said Gerald J. Pomerantz, an attorney for Jones. “We’re quite comfortable it will be resolved to benefit all parties.”
City attorneys have said they cannot release the amount of money the city has agreed to pay to facilitate the settlement until everything is finalized.
A police spokesperson had no comment on the matter.
Judge assigned to inmate case
U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen M. Tafoya has been assigned to the lawsuit of Kenneth J. Houck Jr., an openly gay federal inmate who was brutally beaten by two other inmates at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia four years ago.
Houck is suing the federal Bureau of Prisons and various prison officials, seeking $1.8 million in damages.
Tafoya, who was assigned to the case Oct. 20, is based in Denver, Colo. Houck was incarcerated in Denver at the time he filed suit. He recently was transferred to a federal prison in Marion, Ill.
A spokesperson for Tafoya said if either side objects to her involvement, the case will be reassigned to a federal district judge.
In November 2011, two inmates at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia entered Houck’s cell and assaulted him, causing multiple fractures to Houck’s right leg.
Houck said he’s frequently in “agonizing” pain due to his injuries yet prison officials deny him appropriate medical treatment. He’s alleging cruel and unusual punishment, deliberate indifference, neglect, retaliation and other wrongdoing, according to his lawsuit.
In 2011, Houck pleaded guilty to one count of transporting child pornography. His scheduled release date is May 18, 2018.
Nicole Navas, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, declined to comment for this update.
— Timothy Cwiek