Henry Domurad, the Derby finance director at the center of a controversy over whether he resigned this month or was fired by Mayor Anthony Staffieri, plans to file a lawsuit in the matter, his lawyer said Monday.
“We will be taking some action this week,” the lawyer, John M. Gesmonde, told the Valley Indy. “There will be litigation.”
Staffieri says the resignation letter is real, and brought in a retired handwriting expert in an effort to prove it. The original has since been handed over to an investigator with the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office in anticipation of a criminal probe.
Gesmonde did not reveal many details Monday about the planned lawsuit. Asked who Domurad would be suing, he said: “The obvious problem is the mayor.”
Gesmonde declined to say what exactly Domurad would be suing for — an injunction to get his job back, for example, or compensation for financial damages.
“I think you’re just going to have to wait and see,” he said. “It will be soon.”
Staffieri was not at his City Hall office early Monday. A message was left there seeking comment.
Domurad wasn’t at City Hall Monday morning, nor was any other finance director about 9:10 a.m.
He had planned to report to work as usual, Gesmonde said, after a Board of Aldermen meeting Thursday night during which Aldermen voted not to accept a resignation letter allegedly signed by Domurad.
But his plans changed Friday, when Staffieri vetoed that vote. If Aldermen want to override the mayor’s veto, they will need six votes. The resolution they passed Thursday succeeded by a 5 – 3 tally.
Click here to read more about the veto.
There have been no special meetings of the Board of Aldermen scheduled since Thursday, according to the City Clerk’s office.
