The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland ordered the Bethesda (Md.) Fire Department to pay $259,000 to settle a First-Amendment termination lawsuit filed by former Deputy Chief Lewis German.

German was terminated following his public whistle-blowing comments in the aftermath of Sept. 11 that Montgomery County was ill-prepared to counter a chemical or biological attack, according to his attorney, Mark Zaid.

"The core issue was the unlawful termination of a volunteer deputy chief for the exercise of free speech involving issues of public importance, specifically preparedness for a chem/bio attack," Zaid said.

According to the lawsuit, Montgomery County purchased approximately $500,000 worth of protective suits in or around 1999 that never were distributed to the various fire/rescue stations. German publicly stated that none of the protective suits was appropriately or continually fit-tested to ensure maintenance, nor did fire or rescue personnel receive the necessary training to use the suits.

On Jan. 22, 2002, the department informed German that he would have to issue a public letter of apology and serve a six-month suspension. After German refused to accept the conditions, the department terminated him on Feb. 20, 2002. The action ended his 30-plus years of volunteer fire service.

The lawsuit argued that his termination was unlawful and violated German's right to free speech. Litigation followed "on principal alone," Zaid said, adding that German wanted to protect a firefighter's right to speak out — especially if it affected public safety or the safety of other firefighters.

Zaid noted that if German was not a volunteer, the settlement numbers would be much higher.

"This case would have been worth millions of dollars, but because he was a volunteer the amount of compensatory damages was relatively low because salary was zero," Zaid said. "There were some perks for being a volunteer — such as tax breaks and use of vehicles, as well as retirement benefits. But we want other volunteers to feel empowered that they can exercise their free speech rights and know that if something happens they can respond and be protected.

Zaid recommends that fire chiefs defer to legal counsel before taking any termination actions to avoid any "unnecessary violations of the law," he said.