A jury in New Haven took just 20 minutes to determine there wasn’t enough evidence to back up a Derby official’s claim that he was assaulted in a parking garage stairwell by an off-duty city police officer.
“The jury’s verdict speaks for itself,” said James N. Tallberg, the lawyer representing John Dorosh, the defendant in the case. “A 20-minute deliberation speaks volumes about what the jury thought of the plaintiff’s claim.”
Leo Moscato, Jr., the executive director of the Derby Parking Authority, filed a federal civil lawsuit two years ago claiming John Dorosh slammed his head into a concrete wall after a Derby Parking Authority meeting on Oct. 10, 2010.
Background
At the time of the allegation, Dorosh was the chairman of the Parking Authority, the volunteer board that supervises Moscato, a paid employee.
Dorosh denied Moscato’s accusation from the start, telling the Valley Indy in 2010 that Moscato invented the story to retaliate against Dorosh for asking questions about Moscato’s use of a city-issued cell phone.
Dorosh said he had begun to probe Moscato’s cell phone use after Moscato was arrested for attempting to solicit an undercover cop posing as a prostitute on Craiglist.
Moscato eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser charge — breach of peace — in connection to that arrest. His supervisors at the Parking Authority never took any type of disciplinary action against him.
Dorosh said he found exorbitant cell phone charges and questionable cell phone calls — and that Moscato grew increasingly angry at him for probing his cell phone use.
The bad blood between Moscato and Dorosh grew thicker throughout 2010, with Moscato accusing Dorosh of illegally parking and not paying the Parking Authority’s own meters outside Raro’s, a gas station he owns on Third Street.
The tension got physical, according to Moscato’s lawsuit, when Dorosh slammed the back of his head into a wall and threatened to kill him shortly after 8 p.m. Oct. 10, 2010.
The Video
The case went to trial Wednesday in U.S. District Court in New Haven in front of Judge Shira Scheindlin and a jury of six women and two men.
Six people took the witness stand: Moscato, Dorosh, Deputy Police Chief Scott Todd, parking authority member Joseph Moore, Derby Police Officer Henry Bartone and Richard Bartholomew, an active Derby volunteer who is friends with Moscato.
Dorosh and Moscato’s testimony were as far apart as the sun and the dwarf planet Pluto.
Moscato said Dorosh assaulted him, while Dorosh said he never touched Moscato, even after an angry Moscato had “chest bumped” him.
Tallberg, Dorosh’s lawyer, showed the jury surveillance video from the night in question.
The video showed Moscato, Dorosh, and Moore exit Moscato’s office in the parking garage.
A Parking Authority meeting had just ended — and, according to testimony, members questioned whether Moscato was storing personal items inside storage units in the garage.
The video showed Moscato and Dorosh go off camera through a door that lead to stairs.
Moore is seen walking through the same door, trailing Moscato and Dorosh by 13 seconds.
Moscato claimed he had been assaulted inside the stairwell, on a lower level, out of sight of the camera or Moore.
The video showed the men after the alleged assault.
Dorosh and Moore were seen walking back through the door toward their vehicles, trailed by Moscato, who makes a call on his cell phone.
If Moscato had his head slammed into the wall, he sure didn’t show it as he calmly made his way to his office, Tallberg repeatedly pointed out during the roughly six-hour trial.
Moore — whose cousin is married to Moscato and who is engaged to Dorosh’s cousin — testified that he saw or heard nothing out of the ordinary from his vantage point at the top of the stairs.
Who Is Lying?
Since much of the case was “he said, he said,” both lawyers tried to attack the credibility of the other guy’s client.
Moscato’s prior legal trouble was not allowed to be mentioned.
John Williams, Moscato’s lawyer, presented a medical report from Griffin Hospital showing that Moscato suffered a mark on the back of his head and a concussion. The independent report, Williams said, offered “irrefutable proof” his client had been assaulted.
However, Tallberg asked Moscato whether, after Dorosh had left the garage, he slammed his own head into a wall inside his office.
“If that’s what you want to believe,” Moscato answered incredulously.
Tallberg repeated the question.
“No. Absolutely not,” Moscato said.
In an attempt to damage Dorosh’s credibility, Williams asked Dorosh about an incident in which Derby Public Works employees were disciplined for painting parking lines at his gas station. The attorney cut Dorosh off as he tried to offer an explanation.
Moscato testified that he called Derby police immediately after the alleged assault. He filled out a written report in front of Officer Bartone.
Moscato then testified that no one from the Derby Police Department ever contacted him about the case.
“Interesting,” Moscato said from the witness stand.
However, Deputy Chief Todd contradicted Moscato’s statement, testifying under oath that he and Lt. Sal Frosceno went to see Moscato the morning after he first made the allegation. They watched the surveillance video and then tried to interview Moscato.
Moscato said he had hired a lawyer and did not want to answer questions, Todd testified.
Police later obtained a warrant to seize a computer from the parking garage in order to view surveillance video.
“Based on what I saw I did not have to take any police action,” Todd said.
Tallberg questioned why the victim of an assault would not cooperate with police — and immediately hire a lawyer.
Judge Scheindlin indicated the case boiled down to who the jury found more believable — Dorosh or Moscato.
“This seems to be a straight credibility case,” she said.
The jurors believed Dorosh.
Dorosh was clearly happy by the jury’s decision, as evidenced by a smile and handshakes with his legal team, but outside court he referred questions to his lawyer.
Moscato offered a brief comment. “It’s settled. Let’s move on.”
Moscato had been seeking an unspecified amount of monetary damages in the case.
