Source: The (Bergen) Record, Newark Star-Ledger, Associated Press via Philadelphia Inquirer
Secaucus, NJ -- A Hudson County jury has awarded $2.8 million to a gay couple who said they were ritually and viciously harassed by volunteer firefighters for more than two years when they were living next door to a firehouse in Secaucus.

The gay couple claimed for years that Secaucus did little to protect their civil rights or investigate the firemen.

Earlier this week, a civil court jury in Hudson County agreed, the Star-Ledger reports.

After a month-long trial, the jury on Tuesday awarded Peter de Vries and Timothy Carter $2.84 million in a civil lawsuit that some see as a victory for the gay community and a launch point for a possible criminal investigation.

The jury awarded about $433,000 for economic damages and $1 million in emotional damages to de Vries, and $1.4 million in emotional damages to Carter.

"It was a mob attack and then the town government gathered around to protect the perpetrators," the couple's attorney, Neil Mullin, said of the most violent incident in April, 2004 and its aftermath.

Mullin said the harassment began in December 2001, not long after de Vries and Carter moved from Minneapolis and rented a house on Schopmann Drive, The Record reports. The harassment became more frequent and intense in early 2004, when de Vries and Carter began to find used condoms on their back porch, Mullin told jurors.

The breaking point, Mullin said, came on April 24, 2004, when “drunk and noisy” firefighters returned from an off-site awards banquet, pounded on the walls of the couple’s home, shook their fence and yelled epithets and death threats at Carter.

The plaintiffs described the event as a 12-minute tirade that took place outside their home. They said it started when Carter complained about the raucous 1 am party held in the firehouse parking lot.

The couple moved from Secaucus to another location in Hudson County not long after the incident, Mullin said.

Mullin said he will refer the case to the state Attorney General's Office, so it could reopen a bias crime investigation and to the U.S. Attorney's Office for a possible criminal obstruction case, the Star-Ledger reports.

The Montclair attorney questioned whether Secaucus is a safe place for gay residents. "The same leadership that protected these perpetrators is still in power, and I thinks that's most unfortunate," he said.

Mullin accused town officials of conducting perfunctory investigations into the incident. The investigation did not result in disciplinary action, but the town did require volunteer firefighters to take part in a sensitivity training course required of all municipal employees. 

Mayor Dennis Elwell, who was named as a defendant along with former Town Administrator Anthony Iacono and former Fire Chief Frank Walters, said Wednesday that the town’s attorneys had advised him not to comment on the verdict. He said town officials are discussing whether to file an appeal, The Record reports.

The $2.8 million award covers lost wages, pain, suffering, humiliation, mental anguish, emotional harm and physical ailments resulting from the harassment, as well as reimbursement of medical expenses and punitive damages, Mullin said.

Full article: Jury awards gay couple money in harassment case | The Record
Gay couple awarded $2.84M in Secaucus harassment case | Star-Ledger
Gay couple win harassment suit against Secaucus | Philadelphia Inquirer