A Hudson County Superior Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by controversial paid agitator Leonard Filipowski, aka Leroy Truth, against Union City Mayor Brian P. Stack, the Union City Police Department, and the Union City Board of Commissioners, ruling that city officials acted lawfully when police arrested him after he repeatedly refused to comply with meeting rules during a contentious public meeting.
Judge Kalimah Ahmad granted summary judgment to all defendants today, concluding that Filipowski failed to establish any constitutional violation or false arrest claim arising from his July 16, 2024, arrest at a meeting of the Union City Board of Commissioners. The judge dismissed the complaint with prejudice, ending the case at the trial court level.
The lawsuit alleged violations of the First Amendment, the New Jersey Constitution, the New Jersey Civil Rights Act, and false arrest after police removed Filipowski from the meeting and charged him with disorderly conduct.
Filipowski, who is allegedly tied to a Stack rival, North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco, was indicted in April on charges of assaulting a police officer last November. He is scheduled to appear in court on August 17.
Filipowski was initially permitted to speak during the public comment portion of the meeting, where he criticized city officials and presented Stack with what the court described as a fictitious award. Trouble began after the city’s corporation counsel objected to personal attacks involving family members.
Rather than continuing his remarks from the designated podium, Filipowski walked toward the rope barrier separating the audience from the commissioners’ table and continued speaking while gesturing toward the governing body. The judge’s opinion states that Stack, the corporation counsel, and two Union City police officers repeatedly instructed him to step back and return to the podium. Filipowski refused, insisting he had a First Amendment right to stand wherever he wished. He was then arrested for disruptive behavior.
Ahmad found that Union City’s Rules of Decorum clearly require speakers to remain in designated public areas, address the governing body as a whole, and refrain from disruptive conduct. Those rules also authorize the removal or arrest of individuals whose behavior interferes with the orderly conduct of meetings.
The judge rejected Filipowski’s argument that his free speech rights had been violated, finding that the city regulated only the location from which he could speak—not the content of his remarks.
“The facts presented show Plaintiff was not prevented from speaking based on content; rather, he was directed to comply with the designated speaking area after approaching the barrier and refusing repeated instructions,” Ahmad wrote.
The court also held that Stack could not be held liable in his official capacity because Union City operates under the Walsh Act, which vests policymaking authority in the Board of Commissioners collectively rather than in the mayor acting alone. The Open Public Meetings Act expressly allows governing bodies to regulate public participation during meetings, Ahmad noted.
Ahmad found several independent reasons to dismiss Filipowski’s false arrest claim.
First, she ruled that Filipowski failed to comply with the New Jersey Tort Claims Act by failing to file the required notice within 90 days of the incident, thereby leaving him time-barred from pursuing the claim. Second, she found that he failed to meet the Tort Claims Act’s threshold for recovering damages for pain and suffering because he presented no evidence of a permanent injury or qualifying medical expenses.
Most significantly, the judge concluded that Union City police had probable cause to arrest because Filipowski repeatedly refused lawful police directives to return to the podium.
“The existence of probable cause defeats a false arrest claim,” Ahmad stated.
The opinion also noted that Stack did not personally carry out the arrest. Instead, the mayor merely asked Filipowski to step back from the commissioners’ table, while Union City police officers arrested him after he refused repeated commands. On that record, Ahmad found no evidence that Stack personally directed or effectuated the arrest.
Ahmad wrote that no rational factfinder could hold Stack, the Board of Commissioners, or the police department liable because Filipowski’s arrest followed his admitted refusal to comply with repeated lawful directives. She determined that the Board acted within its statutory authority to regulate public participation at meetings and that Filipowski’s false arrest claims were independently barred by the Tort Claims Act and defeated by the existence of probable cause.
In a separate order issued the same day, Ahmad granted the Union City Police Department’s and Board of Commissioners’ cross-motion for summary judgment, dismissing all claims against those defendants with prejudice.
Last October, a municipal court judge in Trenton dismissed disorderly persons offenses against Truth following his removal from a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this year.