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Attorneys representing the widow and the estate of former New Bedford Deputy Fire Chief Paul Coderre are threatening legal action against the city for wrongful death, defamation and multiple other claims that they say led the former acting chief to commit “suicide by cop” in a fatal armed standoff with police in December 2023.
The allegations were outlined in a letter of intent submitted to Thursday’s City Council session. Coderre was fired from the department in 2022 over accusations that he faked a back injury to get disability benefits. The attorneys are now claiming that the city “manufactured evidence and publicly defamed” Coderre in an effort to deprive him of his wages and benefits prior to his death. He “would die a broken man as a result of the tactics employed by the City of New Bedford and its agents,” the attorneys wrote. Attorneys are also aiming to reinstate Coderre’s life insurance to his widow, which has since been withheld, in addition to other benefits, due to litigation.
On Dec. 29, 2023, Coderre was shot to death by police in an armed standoff outside The Bayside Lounge in Fairhaven. Coderre was heavily intoxicated and made suicidal statements before firing his Ruger 9mm at several police officers. One Acushnet police officer was shot in the leg. The Bristol County DA’s office found the shooting was justified in a report released Aug. 8.
The claims of wrongful death are not oriented at the three police departments involved in the fatal shootout. The allegations instead relate to the city’s 2022 firing of Coderre and the legal dispute that followed.
The letter of intent, a precursor to a possible lawsuit, pointed at the “City of New Bedford and its agents,” whom the attorneys wrote engaged in a “civil conspiracy” to fire Coderre, deprive him of his pension and benefits and “destroy his career and reputation.” They wrote that legal action and public “defamation” carried out by the city caused “severe depression and other mental health issues” that drove Coderre to a psychological break on the night he was shot to death by police.
“The suicidal thoughts were brought on from his mentally exhausted and depressed state of mind caused by the City’s malicious and prolonged efforts to end his career,” the attorneys wrote.
In a statement to The Light, the city pushed back on the claims brought by Coderre’s estate. “The allegations in the letter have no merit,” wrote Jonathan Darling, spokesperson for the City of New Bedford. “The unfortunate reality of this matter is that Mr. Corderre fired a handgun at police officers, who had no choice but to act in self-defense and protect innocent bystanders.”
Coderre’s estate is represented by attorneys David J. Hoey and Phillip N. Beauregard, who is a former New Bedford city solicitor. Beauregard (who clarified that he is serving as counsel to Hoey’s law firm, independent from his law firm, for this case) declined to comment.
Attorneys claim wrongful death, smear campaign, “conspiracy”
At the time of his death, Coderre was mired in a nearly two-year legal dispute with the city of New Bedford related to his benefits and pension.
While responding to an emergency in 2016, Coderre was involved in a car wreck and injured his back, causing herniation and bone spurs, attorneys wrote. He then re-injured the same region of his back while on the job three years later and was placed on paid leave in August 2020.
New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell fired Coderre in 2022 for “dishonesty and untruthfulness in connection with alleged work-related injuries.” While Coderre was on leave for disability, the city hired an investigator to surveil him. The investigator captured Coderre on video unloading a 176-pound smoker grill from the bed of his truck — which Mitchell and the city claimed as “inconsistent with his alleged injuries.” The city also shared Facebook photos of Coderre on vacation in Florida and engaged in activities it further claimed to be inconsistent with his injuries.
In 2021, the city ordered Coderre to submit an independent medical examination conducted by an orthopedic surgeon. According to attorneys, the examination confirmed that Coderre’s disabilities made him incapable of performing his regular duties as a firefighter and that “Coderre made no effort to mislead [the doctor] about the extent of his injuries.” Attorneys claimed the medical examiner then changed his stance one month later. The doctor executed an addendum that attorneys claim was drafted by the New Bedford City Solicitor which stated Coderre was “putting on an act.”
Coderre applied for disability retirement in December 2021, but the city began taking steps to terminate Coderre, attorneys wrote. The city also engaged in what attorneys described as a “vicious public relations attack” against Coderre, in which the city released to the press surveillance footage of Coderre moving the grill from his truck in order to prove he had fraudulently received more than $200,000 in injury benefits. Coderre was fired in 2022, making him ineligible to receive benefits including health insurance and his pension.
“The parties involved, led by Mayor Mitchell, conspired to achieve their goals of framing Mr. Coderre as a corrupt firefighter,” the attorneys wrote. The attorneys described Coderre as a family man and third-generation firefighter who served the city for 30 years and never had a disciplinary mark on his record.
In their letter, the attorneys asserted that Mitchell was motivated to pursue this case to buff his image as a mayor who is “tough on crime” and to promote the current fire chief, Scott Kruger, whom the attorneys wrote is the mayor’s cousin. City spokesperson Darling clarified that Chief Kruger is the mayor’s second-cousin and that permanent appointments are subject to the state’s Civil Service procedures, which require candidates to take promotional exams.
In November 2023, the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission issued a ruling that Coderre had been wrongfully terminated by the City of New Bedford. “[Coderre] did not submit false injury reports; he did not abuse the NBFD’s injured leave policy; he did not lie or misrepresent the nature of his disability,” the CSC wrote in its ruling. His termination was vacated and Coderre was reinstated as deputy fire chief without the loss of his pension or benefits.
However, on Dec. 28, 2023, the day before the fatal shootout, the City filed a complaint seeking to appeal the CSC’s ruling. “The city’s complaint continued to push the same false and malicious narratives that were rejected by the CSC, further defaming Mr. Coderre,” the attorneys wrote. “This caused Mr. Coderre to suffer a physiological and emotional breakdown.”
At the Bayside Lounge in Fairhaven, Coderre made repeated suicidal statements, according to the Bristol County DA’s report. He told the responding police officers, “there is no coming back from this.” Before opening fire on the police, he told them the situation was going to end “one of two ways, you guys are going to shoot me or I’m going to shoot me,” according to the report.
Though no lawsuit has been filed, the attorneys representing Coderre’s estate wrote that they intend to pursue a litany of claims that the city is ultimately responsible for the circumstances surrounding Coderre’s death, “along with mistreatment that the Coderre family suffered and continues to suffer as a result.”
Those claims include: civil conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, abuse of process, invasion of privacy (related to medical records and surveillance) and wrongful death. Attorneys are also seeking to restore Coderre’s life insurance policy and other benefits to his widow, whom they wrote suffered emotional distress due to the alleged defamation, invasion of privacy and witnessing the violent death of her husband.
The attorneys’ letter to the city is a prerequisite to a civil lawsuit against a public employer in Massachusetts, and essentially notifies the city of the grounds for filing a claim. If a resolution is not reached, the attorneys wrote that they will move forward in filing suit.
“The City and its officials have acted arbitrarily, out of personal animosity toward Mr. Coderre, in bad faith and in an attempt to deprive the claimants of their due benefits, reparations and damages,” the attorneys wrote. “Mr. Coderre was subjected to mental torment throughout the entire process of his wrongful termination and continued until the moment of his death.”
Email Will Sennott at wsennott@newbedfordlight.org
Another great job of reporting
The scammer got taken out.