Ex-Police Captain Files 5th Lawsuit Against Parsippany

PARSIPPANY, NJ — Retired Parsippany police Capt. James Carifi has filed a fifth lawsuit against the Township of Parsippany-Troy Hills, signaling the continuation of an already years-long legal battle.

Filed last week in Morris County Superior Court, the lawsuit asks for over $426,000 in unpaid unused, accrued sick, vacation, compensation and personal days. The council passed a resolution approving the payment, but without settling any of the previous litigation. Carifi's latest suit claims they have failed to make any payments.

Mayor Michael Soriano did not authorize the payments, saying township attorney James Lott advised against making payments during pending litigation, the Daily Record reported.

"As I have said many times, I support paying out Mr. Carifi’s accrued leave time, which should have been paid by my predecessor, but only as part of a complete settlement of all Carifi litigation," Soriano told the paper.

Carifi's lawyer, Christopher Deininger, told the Daily Record, "A bipartisan town council directed that Mr. Carifi finally receive his overdue compensation for accrued sick days and vacation by Sept. 10. Mayor Soriano has chosen to block that payment, putting the interests of the town's insurance company ahead of those of the citizens of Parsippany."

Carifi sued the town, first in 2011, alleging that he was the subject of internal affairs investigations for reporting wrongdoing within the department, and was denied a promotion. A 2017 jury found that Carifi acted "in good faith" by raising alarms, but what he was not retaliated against; none of the internal investigations ended with punishments.

At one point during the case, Parsippany was also suing Carifi, for allegedly stealing over 960,000 worth of documents on his last day at work. The New Jersey Attorney General's Office declined to press charges in that case.