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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The attorney representing an officer recently reinstated to the Wilkes-Barre Police Department says the city and former Police Chief Marcella Lendacky have failed to supply information for a federal suit against the department by two officers.</p><p>Lawyer Ryan Lockman complained about the lack of responsiveness in a letter to federal Judge Robert D. Mariani.</p><p>Police union vice president Daniel Duffy was reinstated to the police force last week, nearly one full year after his termination after sending an email that was perceived by City Administrator Ted Wampole and Mayor Tony George as a threat.</p><p>What&#8217;s left unresolved is a federal lawsuit Duffy launched along with PBA President Sgt. Phil Myers.</p><p>In a letter recently filed in federal court by Lockman, attorney for Duffy and Myers, the lawyer says it&#8217;s been impossible to set up a date for Lendacky&#8217;s deposition &#8212; or even to get the defense&#8217;s attorneys to respond to requests for information in the case.</p><p>In his letter to Judge Mariani, Lockman says he reached out to defense attorneys Matthew Boyd and Mark Bufalino on Sept. 22, asking if Nov. 1 would be a good date for the deposition of Lendacky.</p><p>Lockman said he didn&#8217;t receive a response to the email. Lockman said he sent follow-up emails Oct. 5 and Oct. 19, but didn&#8217;t receive a response to these either.</p><p>Efforts by the Times Leader to reach Boyd and Bufalino on Friday were not immediately successful.</p><p><strong>Background</strong></p><p>Duffy, an instructor at the Lackawanna College Police Academy and former Scranton police chief, was terminated last year.</p><p>The email in question, sent Sept. 16, 2017, stated: &#8220;Your failing to act on a &#8216;problem laying in wait&#8217; may be a costly one, both tangibly and intangibly. It is a matter of time (sic) someone will need to answer for this.&#8221;</p><p>Duffy&#8217;s email came after a period of frequent disputes between the Wilkes-Barre Police Benevolent Association and former chief Lendacky.</p><p>Earlier this week, it was reported that Duffy would be cleared of all allegations of wrongdoing in reference to his firing.</p><p>Efforts by a reporter to reach Wampole and Lendacky for comment were not immediately successful Friday.</p><p><strong>Other legal issues</strong></p><p>Lockman says this isn&#8217;t the only snag he has faced in the case.</p><p>&#8220;Exacerbating this issue is defendants&#8217; failure to provide responses to discovery or even respond to our inquiries regarding same,&#8221; he writes. &#8220;The discovery requests were sent to counsel via email on September 22, 2018. They are now overdue.&#8221;</p><p>Lockman suggests the plaintiffs have no information from the defense, something he says is a blatant failure on the defense&#8217;s part.</p><p>&#8220;First, of course, we must receive paper discovery,&#8221; he writes. &#8220;But it appears that opposing counsel is not only failing to respond to discovery requests, but also is not providing the common courtesy of responding to correspondence.&#8221;</p><p>In an order signed Friday, Mariani ordered the attorneys to file a response on or before Tuesday, with a telephone conference to be held at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_Marcella_Lendacky-cmyk.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Lendacky </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_Marcella_Lendacky-cmyk.jpg</photo0><caption0>Lendacky </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_web1_Duffy.cropped.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Duffy </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_web1_Duffy.cropped.jpg</photo1><caption1>Duffy </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Officer&#8217;s attorney says defense has ignored requests</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Patrick Kernan</p><p>pkernan@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Duffy’s lawyer pushing for Lendacky deposition