A Long Island animal rights activist that was fired from a volunteer position by the town of Southampton, for speaking out against their animal euthanasia policy, has been vindicated by a jury. From Newsday:
A federal jury awarded an East End animal rights’ activist a $251,000 judgment Wednesday in a case that also compelled Southampton town to re-examine its euthanasia policy for stray cats and dogs.
Patricia Lynch said the town unfairly ended her work as a volunteer at its animal shelter after she used a radio show and newspaper column to speak out against putting the animals to sleep. The end of her work at the shelter, her attorney argued in U.S. District Court in Central Islip, made it impossible for her to continue rescuing the animals and place them in local homes…
[U.S. Judge Arthur D.] Spatt found that just like other municipal volunteers, such as volunteer firemen, Lynch did have First Amendment rights to free speech and due process…