By Matt Gryta
The Buffalo News
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The 13 white Buffalo firefighters whose civil service promotional scores were voided on racial grounds earlier this decade are missing out on a combined $4.1 million in pay and pension benefits, an expert witness testified Friday.
Richard A. Shick, dean emeritus of Canisius College’s Richard J. Wehle School of Business, testified that he calculated those lost earnings based on federal and state government pension data and the department’s actual promotion histories.
State Supreme Court Justice John A. Michalek ultimately will rule on the financial damages Buffalo owes the firefighters for its decision to void 2005 and 2006 civil service test results because minority firefighters did poorly.
Shick’s calculations were disputed by Kelly Besaw, a local accountant hired by the city’s private attorneys.
She has calculated the plaintiff’s combined wage and pension losses at only $1.2 million.
Besaw was allowed to sit in court during Shick’s testimony over the objection of Andrew P. Fleming and Christen Archer Pierrot, the attorneys representing the 13 firefighters.
The third week of the nonjury trial will not begin until Sept. 9 because of Michalek’s previously scheduled court cases.
The judge will rule on a damages figure after both sides submit post-trial briefs at the conclusion of testimony, in the next month or so.
Shick, who holds a doctorate in finance, testified that he based his calculations on the years each of the 13 firefighters plans to retire or already had retired, as well as peer group analysis of the annual pay increases for the job ranks the plaintiffs expected to reach.
Three of the firefighters are now retired and one is on the verge of retirement.
Shick told the judge he also based his calculations on standard life-expectancy tables, Social Security Administration and state pension tables, and analysis of overtime pay actually earned by fire officers in the ranks of lieutenant, captain, battalion chief and division chief.
Shick said he also took into account the average of seven years that members of the Fire Department tend to stay in each post before seeking further promotions through civil service test rankings.
He told the judge he also considered the state court system’s 9 percent annual interest figures on damages, U.S. Treasury Bond yields and future inflation estimates.
Shick told the judge he has testified as an expert witness on economic damages in trials for wrongful deaths, matrimonial and pension cases 39 times since 1996. He said he has testified for both plaintiffs and defendants.
Since being retained by Fleming to calculate the 13 firefighters’ economic losses, Shick said he has been paid $21,500 for 350 hours of work on the case.
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