Dist. 15 lawyer sues state

Lawrence school district attorney Albert D'Agostino is fighting back. After finding out last month that the state comptroller plans to revoke his annual $108,088 public pension — again — D'Agostino filed a federal lawsuit on Dec. 10 alleging that his civil rights were violated.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court, alleges that Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and three of his attorneys denied D'Agostino his right to due process when they revoked his pension in 2008 after determining that he was working as a private contractor. The lawsuit claims that D'Agostino's 5th and 14th Amendment rights were violated, and that he should have been given a hearing as well as adequate notice of the claims against him before his pension was revoked.

D'Agostino's attorney, James Roemer, said he is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, claiming that D'Agostino's reputation was tarnished by the ordeal, but Roemer would not say how much money he and his client are looking for. He did reference a similar case — Morgenstern v. Nassau County — in which the defendant recouped more than $500,000 in damages because of a 14th Amendment violation. "His case is worth several times more than they awarded Morgenstern," Roemer said of D’Agostino.

In 2000, D'Agostino began collecting a state pension for 28 years of service — 21 of which were granted retroactively — even though he had been paid as a private contractor. D'Agostino was reported as an employee of the Lawrence, Valley Stream 30 and North Merrick school districts.

Lawrence Board of Education President Murray Forman said that he and the other District 15 trustees stand firmly behind the 65-year-old D'Agostino as he battles the state over his pension. “The position of the Lawrence school board has been that we are supportive of Mr. D'Agostino,” Forman said, “and as long as there are no final adjudicated negative findings regarding this issue, we are sure that everything he has done has been proper.”