Postiville, IA – Gabay Menahem, a former businessman and property owner here, has received $450,000 to settle discrimination and business interference lawsuits filed in state and federal court against the City of Postville, the city clerk and two members of the city council.
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Menahem, a Hasidic Jew, alleged that Darcy Radloff, the city clerk; Virginia Medberry and Jeff Reinhardt, both members of the Postville City Council; had discriminated against him and his business, GAL Investments Ltd., on the basis of his Jewish faith. In so doing, they violated the Iowa constitution, the Iowa Civil Rights Act, the federal Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution.
The allegations in the 22-count lawsuits filed in September 2010 were based primarily on hostile and injurious comments as well as published statements. The alleged bigoted behavior culminated with a string of discriminatory actions taken by the three defendants in their roles as agents of the City of Postville.
The lawsuits specifically alleged that Radloff in her role as city clerk circumvented and manipulated the rules governing the provision of municipal water in order to allow huge bills to amass at Menahem-owned properties. As a result Menahem suffered financially, allegedly losing many of his lenders as the artificial debts imposed by the City were turned into liens on his rental properties. GAL eventually collapsed.
Menahem notified city officials of the clerk’s alleged discrimination and abuse of authority, and he asked for help numerous times. Despite his pleas, the City of Postville allegedly failed to halt the abuse or to remedy her discriminatory practices.
The settlement terms also call for the City of Postville to host a community workshop on diversity issues, aimed at promoting tolerance and respect for different faiths and cultures. The workshop will be sponsored by Iowa State University.
Menahem was represented by civil rights attorneys David Goldman of Babich Goldman P.C. and Thomas Newkirk of the Newkirk Law Firm, both of Des Moines, Iowa. The attorneys reached an out-of-court settlement with the City of Postville.
“Mr. Menahem is pleased to have this matter resolved,” Goldman said. “We very much appreciate that the good people of Postville elected to resolve this case. One hopes that the community workshop can help with the city’s continued healing, while underscoring the need for the diverse cultures within Postville to unite rather than divide.”
While the City of Postville admitted no wrongdoing, Mr. Menahem says he “is satisfied that the settlement’s terms send a clear message that elected officials will be held accountable for their actions, and any practices that violate civil and constitutional rights will not be tolerated.”
Iy”h he can donate the settlement to the SMR defense fund!
Does Radloff still have her job???
This article should be posted on every internet site & blog. This is a community which hates Jews. It should be publicized where ever possible.
Will this have any impact on the abuse of power/injustice that happened to SMR?
Kol hakavod Mr Gabay for having the guts to sue these choleras.
#6 The set-up of your question (double-bind, answer-justifies-contention) reminds me of methods used to “question” suspects assumed to be stupid.
potsville looks to me to be some farsholtene city with a very anti enviroment against yiden,
just get outa there n do business in other friendly cities
REBASHKIN committed fraud get over it he is not an innocent person by any means.
he was arrested found guilty because he committed fraud not because he is a yid
if a yid commits fraud one cannot scream antisemitism when the get caught and prosecuted
frum is not a get out of jail card
and what happened to gal by that antisemite is not an indictment of the whole town
They have German (“Germ”) names, Typical
Oh how they will judge you on rosh hashana. Always remember. You are judged the way you judge others don’t matter if you are right or wrong.
What I heard is that Rubashkin had an opportunity to plea bargain if he admitted guilt and he would have received a much less severe sentence. But because so may people in our community sent him money for his legal defense and encourage him to fight it, he did not plea bargain and as a result they came down extra hard on him. I think he should have plea bargained. For the future, maybe we should stay out of these things and let the person make their own decision instead of egging them on to fight. Sometimes, you have to surrender to win. In Rubashkin’s case, he would have been much better off working out a deal with the prosecuter and pleading guilty to a lesser crime. He would probably be on probation and free now.
if Postville is filled with anti-semitic bigots, why did they award this Jew a half-million dollars?