A federal jury has awarded a former firefighter more than a half-million dollars in back pay and damages from the Snowmass-Wildcat Fire Protection District and its former chief for unlawfully firing him.
Fireman Paul Blangsted was terminated in April 2004, months after he organized a local firefighters union. The fire district claimed Blangsted’s ouster was unrelated to his labor organizing, and that it resulted from him vandalizing a racquetball sign at the Snowmass Club.
At the conclusion of a three-day trial on July 23, a jury found that the firing violated Blangsted’s First Amendment right to free assembly. They awarded him $572,145 in back pay and punitive damages, plus $10,000 directly from the man who fired him, former Snowmass-Wildcat fire chief William Cowan.
Blangsted, now 35, said he was looking forward to putting his fireman’s helmet back on after four years of litigation. Currently he is working as a mechanic and manager at the Aspen Racing and Sports Car Club in Woody Creek.
“I’m obviously very pleased with the outcome and I can’t wait to get back to work,” Blangsted said Tuesday.
A hearing on Blangsted’s reinstatement as a Snowmass-Wildcat firefighter will be held in Denver federal court on Sept. 16. The Snowmass-Wildcat district serves Snowmass Village and the surrounding area as well as Aspen, Basalt and Carbondale through mutual aid agreements.
When he was terminated, Blangsted had worked for the fire department for nine years. The labor union he organized — a chapter of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) — was dissolved after his departure.
“This verdict should be a warning to other employers who target union officials and members for retaliation,” Blangsted’s attorney, Douglas Steele of Washington, D.C., said in a written statement on Friday.
Current Snowmass-Wildcat Chief Steven Sowles could not be reached for comment regarding Blangsted’s reinstatement. The fire district’s lawyer said he was not authorized to comment.
andrew@aspendailynews.com
