Judge Rejects Councilman’s $56,000 Claim Against Cudahy

A Superior Court judge has rejected a Cudahy councilman’s $56,000 claim against his own city, ruling that the statute of limitations on his lawsuit expired three years ago.

In his lawsuit, Councilman John O. Robertson said the city owed him the money because he had to pay that amount to a multi-city consortium he helped administer while serving on the council.

Although Robertson filed his claim at City Hall in 1991, he did not take the claim to court until last year, which Norwalk Superior Court Judge Paul Sutton ruled was two years too late.

Robertson was not available for comment Thursday. However, an Oct. 29 court date in his lawsuit against the Hub Cities Job Training consortium indicates that he has not given up trying to recoup at least part of the sum.

The initial bill dates to August 1990, when Hub Cities sued Robertson and two of its other former directors over $39,000 in expenditures they allegedly improperly authorized while at the helm of the agency. When he was late paying his share of the bill, a judge added penalties and interest and Robertson was asked to pay $56,000.

Robertson then attempted to recoup the funds from the city.

In denying his request for compensation, Robertson’s fellow city council members said they never authorized him to conduct the deals that consortium officials had deemed inappropriate.