Eastern Pennsylvania City Must Pay $5M Settlement

A federal appeals court says it will not reconsider a ruling that an eastern Pennsylvania city and not its insurance company must pay a multimillion-dollar settlement with the widow of a police officer accidentally shot by another officer inside police headquarters.

Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. says he is disappointed by Friday’s 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision. Panto says the city will have to borrow the $4.9 million it needs by the end of the year, and that will likely cost $600,000 a year over the next decade.

In May, the appeals court reversed a federal court’s decision that Scottsdale Insurance Co. should pay claims against the city of Easton in the death of officer Jesse Sollman after a March 2005 training exercise. Easton earlier this year borrowed about $3 million from itself to make a scheduled payment.