New twist in BPS exam school admissions mess | Celtics hapless no more | Dems on road to electoral disaster, party sage warns | Braintree faces huge financial hit from wrongful murder conviction | Another troubled lab project on the brink | Hanscom jet expansion opponents may not get what they want |
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Staggering judgement: Faced with shelling out tens of millions over wrongful murder conviction, Braintree sues insurers for denying coverage
Whitey Bulger may be dead, but his twisted life and legacy continues to wreak havoc beyond the grave.
Braintree officials are staring down the barrel of a potential $30-million-plus judgement in the case of a man wrongfully convicted of murder after allegedly being framed by both local police and the notorious South Boston gangster.
In a federal court case, lawyers for Fred Weichel contend he languished in prison for decades after Braintree Police deliberately withheld a report that could have cleared him of a 1980 murder.
Now, with the potential of a massive settlement looming, the South Shore town has filed a lawsuit of its own, Contrarian Boston has learned.
The target? The more than a dozen insurance companies the town bought policies from to protect against police misconduct lawsuits, but which are now balking at providing coverage.
All but two of the insurers have refused to honor their policies, and even that pair has only agreed to pay a limited sum, according to the lawsuit filed in Suffolk County Superior Court.
Citing similar cases, lawyers for Braintree estimate a judgement against the town in federal court could be in the range of $1 million to $2 million for each year Weichel was imprisoned.
Given that Weichel was in jail for 36 years, only finally being released in 2017, that could trigger a huge financial penalty for the town ranging from well over $30 million up to $76 million.
The town’s lawsuit against its erstwhile insurers comes as both sides prepare for a confidential mediation session before a federal judge slated or June 11. The aim of the proceedings is to hammer out a settlement.
“The town of Braintree . . . faces the risk of a substantial judgement,” lawyers for the town contend in the lawsuit, a copy of which was reviewed by Contrarian Boston. “The town faces the potential for an adverse judgement in the tens of millions of dollars.”
Weichel already won a $33 million judgement from the state in 2022, but was only able to collect roughly $2 million due to a legal cap placed on such awards.
However, state law does provide an opening to go higher if an exoneree like Weichel can prove that police misconduct resulted from policies or practices.
Braintree Police for years allegedly thwarted Weichel’s efforts, from behind bars, to gather evidence to appeal his conviction in the 1980 murder of Robert LaMonica, holding onto a report by one of its detectives that pointed to another potential suspect.
LaMonica, a Boston water and sewer employee, was gunned down late one night in 1980 outside his Braintree apartment, allegedly after a spat between various local thugs.
Weichel, whose lawyer has noted he was “no choir boy,” argued he was ordered to stay silent by Bulger, then a major crime boss, about what he knew - including the confession of a friend to the murder.
Bulger also allegedly ordered a corrupt FBI agent and a top lieutenant to stay silent as well, even though they saw Weichel out and about at a pair of Boston dives at the time of the Braintree murder.
As for Braintree’s scramble to activate insurance coverage in case of a major judgement or settlement in the Weichel case, it looks to be an uphill battle.
A pair of insurers has agreed to help pay for part of the town’s legal costs in its defense, but with no commitment for anything beyond that, according to legal filings.
New twist in exam school admissions debate: Seemingly well-off Boston parents sue BPS after child denied poverty-school bonus points
Boston’s drive to diversify its well-regarded exam schools through a controversial revamp of admissions is the gift that never stops giving for critics.
In a development that seems tailor made to highlight critics’ concerns, parents who spent months traveling and living in Europe with their child have filed a lawsuit against Boston Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper.
The beef? Because of this absence, their child, identified only as STP, was not awarded bonus points under the new exam school admissions system for having attended a high-poverty school.
In fact, STP had been a student at the Hernandez dual language school in Roxbury since kindergarten, according to the legal complaint, which was filed in state court and reviewed by Contrarian Boston.
As a result, STP was relegated to the wait list for Boston Latin School and Boston Latin Academy, according to the lawsuit, which also identifies the parents only with their initials.
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