Dec. 19--A judge has upheld the settlement agreement reached between the city of Erie and Erie's first female firefighter who maintains she was illegally fired after she set a fire in a bathtub amid a 2006 suicide attempt.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas P. Agresti ruled this afternoon that the $350,000 settlement was in the best interest of former firefighter Mary Wolski's creditors and also that if she risked taking her case to trial for a second time as she wanted to do, there was a strong chance would lose. Even if she won, as she did the first time in 2012, the resolution of the case could be delayed for years by appeals.
Agresti said the settlement, which provides for Wolski's reinstatement and restores her pension eligibility, met most of the goals Wolski stated at the outset of settlement negotiations.
Wolski told the judge after attorney's fees, taxes and other debts are paid, she will not have enough left over to repay debts to her family who supported her when she was fired.
Copyright 2013 - Erie Times-News, Pa.
