On April 6, 2016, Superior Court Judge Richard J. Geiger issued an order dismissing Wayne Byrd’s lawsuit against JoAnne L. Servais and Fairfield Township without prejudice. The Court clerk’s June 21, 2016 letter that accompanied the order explained that while the file was marked “settled” when the matter was called to trial on March 28, 2016, “the attorney indicated binding arbitration.” This suggests that all parties to the case have consented to privately arbitrate their claims instead of employing the court’s services.
In his lawsuit, Docket No. CUM-L-539-14, Byrd claims that former Mayor and Township Committee member Servais violated the terms of a confidential settlement agreement by disclosing that he was paid a settlement amount of $72,000 and that she disparaged him by falsely stating that he “filed suit against the Township following his suspension for alleged theft.”
The prior lawsuit, which bears Docket No. CUM-L-1027-08, which alleges racially hostile and discriminatory treatment by William Ridgeway, settled for $72,500 and contained a confidentiality agreement. It is this confidentiality agreement that Byrd accused Servais of violating in his subsequent lawsuit.
