Judge: Hempstead Town officials weren't in contempt when they missed hearing in Open Meetings Law case

A State Supreme Court judge has denied a motion for civil contempt against Hempstead Town Supervisor John Ferretti and other defendants for failing to appear in court in an Open Meetings Law lawsuit.

Town officials had blamed their legal counsel, Town Attorney John Maccarone and outside counsel Steven Losquadro, for not informing them they had to testify on Oct. 8.

“Defendants claim good faith reliance on their legal counsel, which is a basis to deny civil contempt,” Justice Gary Carlton wrote in a decision Wednesday. Carlton wrote that the courts rely on attorneys and their clients to obey subpoenas, or else face contempt, but found testimony that the officials hadn’t been properly informed to be credible and that the plaintiff hadn’t met his burden of proof to prove contempt.

Carlton chastised Maccarone and Losquadro, writing that “The conduct the defendants attribute to their counsel is disturbing to this court.”

Neither Losquadro nor Maccarone responded to requests for comment Monday.

On Oct. 8, Carlton ruled that the town and several town officials had violated state transparency laws when the town board appointed Ferretti on Aug. 5 without notifying the public in advance. Earlier Oct. 8, Ferretti, Town Clerk Kate Murray, Councilman Thomas Muscarella and Councilwoman Laura Ryder were no-shows to give subpoenaed testimony. The town also failed to produce subpoenaed documents.

Then-candidate for town supervisor Joseph Scianablo, a Democrat, brought the lawsuit against the Republican town officials in late August. The Republican officials’ no-shows prompted a civil contempt proceeding that saw them testify on Nov. 10 why they hadn’t appeared in court.

Ferretti testified that he had been told by Losquadro that the Oct. 8 hearing had been stayed on appeal. Murray testified that Maccarone had told her the same thing, and she also testified that subpoenas were handled by the town attorney’s office.

Though Losquadro filed a notice of appeal on Oct. 7, Carlton told him by email that day that merely filing a notice of appeal would be insufficient to stay the case and that failure to obey the subpoenas could result in contempt sanctions. Muscarella and Ryder testified that they were unaware that they had been subpoenaed.

During his testimony, Muscarella repeatedly said he didn’t remember details about the case and meetings with lawyers or documents he signed, stating at one point, “I’m not known for my memory.”

Newsday reported on Sept. 24 that the four officials had been ordered to testify on Oct. 8.

On Oct. 8, town spokesman Brian Devine offered a different account of what happened that day. He indicated then in a statement to Newsday that the officials had been prepared to testify but claimed there had been a scheduling error and that Ferretti reported to testify at 2 p.m. “Unfortunately the hearing was closed prematurely,” Devine said.

On Monday, Scianablo’s attorney, Joshua Kelner, said in a statement that the court’s decision was an indictment of how the town was being run. “Now, it is up to the Town to answer for why attorneys who committed ‘disturbing’ misconduct are still employed,” Kelner said.

Devine said in a statement Monday that the town had been vindicated.

"The Court affirmed what everybody always knew, that Town officials were not in contempt of Court,” Devine said.

In a separate decision, Carlton ordered the town to pay $35,544 for Scianablo’s attorney fees and expenses.