Allentown is appealing a federal judge’s order requiring the release of documents associated with an investigation into alleged City Hall discrimination.
Earlier this month, Eastern Pennsylvania District Court Judge Gail Weilhemer said the city must provide documents from former FBI agent Scott Curtis’ investigation, to attorneys representing Allentown Deputy City Clerk Tawanna Whitehead in an ongoing lawsuit against the city.
Whitehead sued her employer last year, alleging a hostile and racist work environment. The city has denied Whitehead’s claims.
Whitehead’s lawyer, Marc Weinstein, argued in legal filings that documents related to two investigations into discrimination could be relevant to building Whitehead’s case that the city failed to address her complaints.
Specifically, Weinstein sought documents provided to the city by Scott Curtis, owner of FLEO Investigations, and the Duane Morris law firm, both of which were hired by City Council to investigate alleged discrimination among City Hall employees. The city argued that they could not legally release those documents, citing legislative and attorney-client privilege.
In her order, Weilhemer sided with the city in its argument that the Duane Morris findings are protected by attorney-client privilege. However, she found that the FLEO Investigations findings are not protected by legislative or attorney-client privilege, and therefore the city must release them in discovery.
The city is appealing the court’s decision to the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals. City lawyer Steven Hoffman on Tuesday also asked the court to pause proceedings in the lawsuit until the outcome of the appeal.
Hoffman in court documents argued that the release of the FLEO Investigations documents would result in “irreparable harm to the City” because they are protected by legislative privilege, which would exempt them from discovery.
The investigation was launched after a July 2023 letter from the Allentown NAACP accused Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk and other city leaders of failing to address racism and discrimination among employees, claims that Tuerk has denied.
Reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at Liweber@mcall.com.