Judge Dismisses Former Holmdel Mayor's Lawsuit

HOLMDEL, NJ — A judge has dismissed the lawsuit filed against Holmdel Township by its former mayor, Eric Hinds, who announced this past December he was suing Holmdel Twp.

On Friday, Feb. 14 Judge Joseph Quinn dismissed Hinds' lawsuit in Monmouth County Superior Court. Hinds declined to speak to Patch Wednesday about the suit, saying a statement would come from his lawyer, Larry Luttrell.

"What was revealed for the first time during this hearing is the fact that Holmdel never filed an ethics complaint with the Local Finance Board, thereby proving that the censure was purely a political hit timed to influence the (November 2019) election," said Luttrell. "It’s one thing to support a candidate of your choice, but abusing one’s public office to assassinate the character of a candidate so to aid their political opponent is just wrong."

Before he dismissed the lawsuit, Judge Quinn did call out the Holmdel Twp. committeee members who censured Hinds.

"As someone who served for, you know, 15 years as an elected official, I would have thought that the majority would have been more courteous and considerate and extended to the plaintiff at least some indication that at a meeting that he was not going to be present at, that they were going to take an action that he would perceive to be reflecting poorly on him," said Hon. Quinn. "That seems to be a matter of, you know, common decency."

Hinds decided to sue after he lost his re-election attempt, and after three of his fellow Township Committee members voted to censure him in the fall of 2019. In his suit, Hinds said he wanted the majority of the Township Committee to take back their censure vote against him.

Holmdel Twp. was named as the only defendant.

In his lawsuit, Hinds accused the other elected officials of holding secret meetings in violation of the Open Public Meetings Act, and lying about him in the form of the censure vote. He is seeking to have the censure vote voided.

Interestingly, Hinds' lawyer who filed the suit was Luttrell, the chair of the Holmdel Democratic party. Some were surprised when Luttrell decided to support Hinds, a Republican, throughout the censure proceedings.

"The resolution is one of the worst abuses of political power I have witnessed in my 20 years of practicing law," said Luttrell in December when he first filed the suit. "Not only is it contaminated with one misrepresentation after the other, it was snuck into the October 22, 2019 public meeting from — which Mayor Hinds would be absent — without ever being placed on the published agenda; a clear violation of the Open Public Meetings Act. Doing so ensured that Mayor Hinds and his supporters would be unaware of and thus unable to defend what was essentially an orchestrated political hit."

Luttrell and Hinds argue that the fellow Twp. Committee members should have notified the public 48 hours in advance they intended to vote to censure Hinds at the Oct. 22 meeting.

Speaking to Patch in December, Holmdel Committeeman Rocco Pascucci dismissed the lawsuit as sour grapes from Hinds.

"This is all about Eric, as usual. He didn't get elected and now he's crying about it. He's a crybaby," said Pascucci. "I'm really disgusted. This is gonna waste God knows how much taxpayer money. Come on, Eric, just end this. He didn't get re-elected. Just end it."

Read initial Patch report: Outgoing Holmdel Mayor Sues Twp. Committee For Censuring Him