Parsippany Council President’s Brother Hits Township With 5^th Lawsuit

PARSIPPANY – This afternoon, former Parsippany Police Captain James Carifi, brother of Parsippany Council President Paul Carifi, filed yet another lawsuit against our township.  This follows the improper and legally dubious motion made by Carifi’s runningmates, Councilmembers Michael dePierro and Loretta Gragnani, to pay out $425,000 in leave time and interest payments to Mr. Carifi without resolving any of his remaining lawsuits.

Let me be clear: Captain Carifi, no matter who his brother is, does not get to both be paid $425,000 and continue to sue the taxpayers of Parsippany-Troy Hills.  As I have said many times, I support paying out Mr. Carifi’s accrued leave time, which should have been paid by my predecessor, but only as part of a complete settlement of all Carifi litigation.

It also continues to be awfully hypocritical that Councilmembers dePierro and Gragnani had consistently refused to support any payments to Captain Carifi until announcing their unity ticket with Paul Carifi this year.  Their politically-motivated reversal continues to leave Parsippany taxpayers at risk of millions of dollars in legal fees.  There is no other explanation for their complete change of mind after nearly six years opposing this payout.

I am tired of our taxpayers footing the bill for these lawsuits.  As soon as Mr. Carifi signs the required release, which settles his multiple lawsuits against our town, we can legally and properly close this dark chapter of political infighting in Parsippany’s history.

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