Attorneys for Andover Town Manager Andrew Flanagan and former Andover Youth Services Director Bill Fahey filed a joint motion in Essex Superior Court Tuesday, asking a judge to delay a final pre-trial conference scheduled for Sept. 12 by as many as four months.
Flanagan fired Fahey in May 2021 for unspecified misconduct. Less than a month later, Fahey sued Flanagan in Essex Superior Court.
The motion said the parties have completed two of approximately 17 potential depositions. If the motion is approved, discovery would be extended to Nov. 21 and the pre-trial conference would be rescheduled when discovery is complete.
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“No party will be prejudiced by the allowance of this motion, and it will not in any way significantly delay the proceedings,” the motion said.
In his complaint, Fahey said Flanagan “targeted” him for termination for more than five years before firing him on May 10, 2021. The firing came after a town-commissioned, independent investigation found Flanagan had “sufficient evidence” to fire Fahey, even though the investigation found some of the allegations, including that he had inappropriate contact with a minor, were not credible.
Andover denied most of the allegations in Fahey’s lawsuit in its response to the complaint.
Fahey has repeatedly denied the allegations and disputes the independent investigator’s report. His firing led to the resignation of AYS’s entire full-time staff in September 2021.
Stock photo.