2000
Donna Hurley, Atlantic City police sergeant
Payout: $1.4 million
After eight years of legal wrangling, Hurley won a sexual-discrimination lawsuit against the city. Hurley, the city's first female sergeant, outlined years of alleged harassment,
including officers hanging up sexual devices and drawing pictures on stationhouse and bathroom walls, featuring her performing sexual acts.
2001
Gary Sutley, Atlantic City police detective
Payout: $2.6 million
Sutley took home the biggest single settlement against Atlantic City over the last decade after he accused the department of retaliating against him when he reported drug-dealing
colleagues. But the city contended that they fired him after his trial
testimony indicated that Sutley had also used drugs. The case hurt the city even more than the Sutley settlement amount. Police Capt. Robert Schwartz earned an additional $800,000 settlement after alleging he was retaliated against after he testified truthfully in Sutley's civil trial.
2002
Lorenzo Langford/William Marsh, Atlantic City mayor, city councilman
Payout: $850,000
By far Atlantic City's most bizarre and widely talked about lawsuit
settlement in recent memory, Langford and Marsh originally sued the city after their school board jobs were eliminated by then-Mayor Jim Whelan, prompting claims of retribution for then-Councilman Langford's unsuccessful mayoral run. However, Langford defeated Whelan in 2001, and his suit was settled a year later under his administration. The New Jersey Supreme Court later ordered the settlement be returned because it was "so infected with conflicts of interest that it is void as a matter of state law."
2004
Deborah Rando, Atlantic City police officer
Payout: $1.25 million
Another allegation of sexual harassment in the Police Department cost the city in a settlement after Rando claimed that the brakes on a police bicycle she used were deliberately disconnected.
Pamela Mitchell/Denise Mack, City parking enforcement employees
Payout: $2.6 million
Mitchell and Mack, who are both black, claimed in a lawsuit that for more than a decade they endured racist comments from white supervisors and received less pay than white co-workers while working as parking meter officers for the city. They complained to city officials, but said nothing was done. The city lost at trial and also failed their appeal attempt.
2006
Arthur Snellbaker, Atlantic City police chief
Payout: $500,000
Snellbaker sued after police Capt. Robert Flipping, who had recently been appointed to hold the dual office of public safety director, first ordered him to station police at the Schoolhouse Apartments complex and then suspended him for three days when he didn't comply. In Snellbaker's suit, he claimed, among other things, that a subordinate officer had no right to run the Police Department. Snellbaker and Flipping had each earned more than $233,000 in a joint lawsuit against the department five years earlier.
2008
Juan Perez, Atlantic City electrician
Payout: $646,000
Perez received a settlement payout over a racial discrimination lawsuit that included claims that former Mayor Jim Whelan used a racial slur when referring to Perez.
2009
William Glass, Atlantic City deputy police chief
Payout: $500,000
A jury decided in federal court last year that the city Police Department's former Chief Arthur Snellbaker retaliated against the deputy chief in 2003, "icing" Glass out of the job in which he had served for 27 years. Glass claimed he was targeted by the chief because of his involvement in discussions about a no-confidence vote being considered for Snellbaker.
Michelle Zanes, Atlantic City police officer
Payout: $750,000
Zanes received a settlement after alleging years of sexual harassment from her colleague in the Police Department. In one incident, an officer took a banana off Zanes' desk and shoved it in her mouth while co-workers snickered, the lawsuit reads.
