Qnews update: Gay couple awarded $2.84M in New Jersey harassment case

When one of the men asked the firefighters to keep it down, they responded with outrage, according to a civil suit filed by the couple which is being tried this week in a Jersey City courtroom.

When Timothy Carter returned to the house after asking the firefighters to quiet down, a drunken mob banged on the side of the house and loudly threatened to kill the men and their dogs, according to the couple.

Carter and his partner, Peter de Vries, complained to the city but allege that little was done to discipline the firefighters. They say they lived in constant fear before eventually moving away.

Harassment from the firefighters, according to their complaint, began shortly after Carter and DeVries moved next door to the North End Firehouse in 2002 and allegedly escalated over time.

The men claim that the harassment culminated in the violent, drunken rampage that took place on April 25, 2004.

Neither of the men was injured in the 12-minute attack, but each suffered some degree of post traumatic stress disorder, according to their attorney, Neil Mullin of Montclair.

"They were in there feeling like a mob was going to come in the house and do what they said" they would do, Mullin said in opening statements before a Hudson County Superior Court jury.

The firefighters shouted derogatory, anti-homosexual epithets and death threats, said Mullin.

"They're terrified," Mullin said of the couple. "They're paralyzed with fear."

Police arrived quickly on the night of the incident and say that they cleared the firehouse, but Carter and de Vries charge that the hate crime was never fully investigated by Secaucus officials.

Police made no arrests and no one from the firehouse was thrown off the volunteer force, the Star-Ledger reports.

The case quickly became controversial in town and the investigation was taken over by the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office, according to the Star-Ledger.

The prosecutor's office did not bring charges against anyone. A probe into a possible hate crime also was launched by the state Attorney General's Office, but the case was closed due to a lack of evidence.

Carter and de Vries filed the civil suit being heard this week when they saw nothing else happening.

Carter and de Vries say the harassment continued after the incident and the men said they eventually felt compelled to leave Secaucus.

"After April 25, 2004 we began to live in constant fear," Carter said in court papers. "We knew that the firefighters who had attacked us were right next door and they had not been arrested or disciplined in any way in connection to the attack. To this day we remain terrified that we could be attacked."

Carter and de Vries, are not asking for a specific monetary judgment. If they win their case, damages would be determined based on the case presented.

"In New Jersey, you don't request a specific figure," Kelly Smith, an attorney with Smith Mullin, the Montclair-based firm hired to represent the plaintiffs, explained to Secaucus Reporter.

"You make your case on liability, and then when you get to damages, you have an economic expert testify," she said. "We also have a psychiatric expert. And they can testify on the plaintiff's behalf. But there isn't a specific figure that's presented to the jury. Damages are simply based on the evidence produced."

If Carter and DeVries win, and the town appeals the verdict and loses, the town of Secaucus would be liable for any monetary judgment. The individual firefighters would not be required to personally pay damages.

The case is being heard in Hudson County Superior Court before Judge Barbara Curran.

Full article: Gay couple say they lived in fear after threats | Star-Ledger
Volunteer firefighters head to court | Secaucus Reporter