Naperville officials dropped from councilman's lawsuit

Half of the city officials named in Naperville City Councilman Richard Furstenau's federal lawsuit have been dismissed by a federal judge.

Former Naperville City Manager Peter Burchard, City Attorney Margo Ely and police officer Joe Matchett were "immune" from such prosecution, according to the ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Charles Norgle.

This is the second such dismissal to go against Furstenau. A few months ago, the city was dismissed as well. That leaves Police Chief David Dial, former Detective Michael Cross and police officer Mike Hull as defendants.

The lawsuit claims Furstenau was falsely arrested on battery charges against Hull in 2006 in retaliation for years of scrutinizing police budgets and activities. Furstenau was accused of shoving Hull during a confrontation over parked cars being towed before a holiday parade. A DuPage County judge acquitted Furstenau of the charges, saying there wasn't enough evidence of wrongdoing to convict Furstenau.

Furstenau also claims the charges against him helped him lose a Republican primary race for state Senate. Shortly after the acquittal, he offered to forgo any future legal action if the city agreed to have the police officers apologize and the city reimburse contributors to his failed Senate campaign. The city refused.

The original lawsuit only targeted the three police department employees, but Furstenau added Burchard, Ely and Matchett after they made statements about Furstenau's behavior in the past. Before his resignation in November 2007, Burchard fired off a letter to the press outlining a history of problems with the councilman since Furstenau was first elected in 1999. Ely caught Furstenau's ire for helping draft his letter of censure that the council eventually passed. Matchett spoke out against Furstenau as head of the local police officer's union.

Furstenau's position in the community also played a part in the judge's ruling. Judge Norgle cited case law that states "public officials may need to have a thicker skin than the ordinary citizen when it comes to attacks on their views."

One of Furstenau's lawyers said he was not surprised by the judge's decision.

"We're in front of a very hard judge when it comes to civil rights cases, and this decision is consistent with decisions the judge has made in other civil rights cases," said attorney John Sopuch.

So far, the city has spent more than $1 million defending the case. Having three of the defendants dismissed will likely cut the cost of future legal battles in half, city officials said.

"And all of this was done by a guy who has a fiduciary duty to the city of Naperville and its residents, and he was more concerned about putting money in his pocket without any justification for it," said Terry Ekl, Burchard's attorney.

Defense attorneys have also threatened to seek sanctions against Furstenau to recoup the legal costs if they win the case. James Sotos is the attorney representing Ely and the police officers named in the suit. He said they offered to forgo the (monetary) sanctions if Furstenau agreed to drop the lawsuit immediately. Sotos said Furstenau's lawyers countered by offering to drop everyone from the suit except Hull.

"I can count on one hand the number of times someone's been sanctioned in a lawsuit," Sopuch said. "It's just so silly."