North Bergen police lieutenant capable of amend civil rights grievance after profitable attraction

A North Bergen Police Lieutenant can amend a civil rights complaint after winning an appeal after a lower court dismissed his application for “not making a claim to redress”.

The Nordbergen Police Headquarters. Photo via Facebook.

By John Heinis / Hudson County View

North Bergen Police Lt. Marco Rovelo was hired by the department in 2000 and passed a civil servant examination in May 2016 to be promoted to captain, which was ranked number one on the promotion list according to his court record.

In February 2018, an internal affairs investigation was opened for his conduct in connection with a preliminary investigation into attempted murder.

Seven administrative charges were brought against him as part of internal affairs and the two sides reached an agreement in which he admitted guilt and was given a 15-day suspension.

“After the settlement agreement was reached, the plaintiff was expecting a promotion to captain,” noted New Jersey Supreme Court justices Richard S. Hoffman and Heidi W. Currier.

“He believed there was a vacancy for a captaincy and he was the first in line for a promotion. The defendants disagree and claim that there was no vacant captaincy position at the time. “

The court said the dispute arose because a captain had been dismissed for pending disciplinary proceedings, but the charges were ultimately not upheld and he eventually retired.

“Plaintiff claims [then]-Boss [Robert] Dowd knowingly manipulated the process to allow the captain, allegedly a close friend of Chief Dowd’s, to retire rather than be fired. At the time of the captain’s retirement, the plaintiff’s eligibility for carriage had expired, ”the court wrote.

They later discovered that Rovelo claimed that Dowd had run the department in a “quasi-tyrannical manner.”

He filed in court on June 7, 2019, claiming his civil rights were violated when he was not promoted to captain, which was voluntarily dismissed by September 13 of the same year, despite filing a new lawsuit by September 17 .

While alleging violations of the New Jersey Civil Rights Act (NJCRA) and the New Jersey Constitution, the court dismissed his complaint, ruling that “change cannot be cured”.

However, the appeals court said today that it was the wrong decision on this case.

“While we cannot find any basis to interfere with the court’s decision that the plaintiff’s complaint did not include a claim for redress, we disagree with the decision to dismiss the lawsuit unconditionally,” they ruled.

“Based on our review, the appellate court did not thoroughly and generously examine the lawsuit to determine whether the basis of a cause of action can be inferred from the allegations of fact in the plaintiff’s lawsuit.”

They also stated that Rovelo should be able to remedy the shortcomings in his lawsuit and therefore the pretrial court judgment will be overturned and placed in custody to allow him to amend his motion.