Wilmington Paid $50,000 To Settle Lawsuit

Wilmington paid four current and former city police officers a total of $50,000 to settle a lawsuit that accused the city of violating federal law when only black officers were allowed to provide security at a conference of black business people.

The city on Thursday disclosed the payment to Thomas B. Monahan, Mayna Santiago, Danny Silva and Andrea Janvier in a statement that updated the status of 16 lawsuits Mayor James M. Baker inherited when he took office in 2001.

The News Journal had submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for information about the settlement.

The Monahan lawsuit was filed at U.S. District Court in Wilmington in 2000 against the city, three police officials, the Corporate Black Employees Network and two of its members. It alleged they tried to exclude nonblack officers from working at a conference held at the Hotel du Pont.

John Rago, Baker’s communications director, said the Corporate Black Employees Network paid $5,000 to bring the settlement total to $55,000, he said.