Joliet ex-police chief’s lawsuit trimmed down

A federal judge threw out several claims from former Joliet Police Chief Dawn Malec’s lawsuit against the city.

The lawsuit moves ahead in federal court, however, with Malec’s claims that she was defamed and that her civil rights were violated.

Malec, the first female police chief in Joliet, was fired in October 2021, after 10 months on the job. She was brought under her former rank of lieutenant after city officials realized she could be demoted but not fired.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly in an order issued Tuesday dismissed four counts from Malec’s lawsuit.

Kennelly found that City Manager James Capparelli had authority to remove Malec as police chief without following disciplinary procedures required for other police officers. The judge pointed to a city ordinance providing for the removal of police chiefs “at the sole discretion of the city manager.”

Still in the lawsuit, however, is a separate claim that Malec’s treatment was different from her male predecessors and that the manner of her dismissal was discriminatory.

The judge also found that Capparelli and city officials did not violate Malec’s rights under the Illinois Whistleblower Act by preventing her from trying to discipline a police officer. Kennelly found that Malec by taking her complaint to the City Council did not qualify for whistleblower protection.

Kennelly also found that Malec’s privacy rights were not violated when the city released to the Joliet Patch news website a list of demands she was making in an attempt to reach a settlement with the city before filing the lawsuit.

Still in the lawsuit, however, is the former chief’s claim that the release of her demands was a discriminatory act that violated her civil rights.

The judge declined to dismiss an allegation that Capparelli defamed Malec by making public false claims that she had been insubordinate.

Malec, in an amended complaint filed on Oct. 27, 2022, and a month after her original lawsuit, added two counts alleging that her dismissal violated her civil rights.

Those counts remain in the lawsuit.

They include allegations that Capparelli, who made Malec chief on his first day on the job as city manager, “was being pressured to appoint a woman” but never gave her the authority afforded her male predecessors.

The discrimination counts also allege that Capparelli bypassed Malec while seeking input from her male colleagues.

Lawyers for both the city and Malec declined to comment on the judge’s order.