Late Mahwah DPW Director's Estate To File $20M Wrongful-Death Claim: Report

The estate of deceased public works Director Ed Sinclair said it intends to file a $20 million wrongful-death legal claim, claiming the municipal government caused his death, The Record reported.

The claim continues a running controversy that reached its apex in March when Mayor William Laforet fired Sinclair because pornography was found on a discarded computer in the Department of Public Works. A police investigation found the adult sexual images had been downloaded before Sinclair became director. The council overturned the firing that same month.

It not the first time a notice of claim has been filed against the town on behalf of the Sinclairs. Their attorney filed notices of claim with the town in June. They planned on seeking $40 million for physical and emotional injuries and damage to their reputation.

Related: Ed Sinclair, Mahwah DPW Director Found Dead In His Home

Sinclair had worked for the DPW for nearly 28 years and was a volunteer fireman and fire chief. He was found dead of an apparent heart attack in his Lynn Terrace home Aug. 13.

Jackie Sinclair is the administrator of her husband’s estate. Laforet, Police Chief James Batelli, the Mayor & Council, and the township are named in the notice, the report states. The estate claims their conduct was malicious, intentional, and caused Sinclair “significant stress, humiliation, degradation, and embarrassment,” both locally, and national on television, in print and social media, and elsewhere, the report said.

It said that conduct also caused “nausea, headaches, extreme nervousness, weight issues, insomnia, and other physical effects, which caused” Sinclair’s death.

Laforet and Ed Sinclair also ran against each other in the 2012 mayoral race.

The Sinclairs’ attorney would have to file a lawsuit for the matter to be presented in court, the report said.