While First Selectman Fred Camillo’s lawsuit against the Board of Education seems to have garnered little attention recently, the lawsuit against the school board (and five individually named current and former members) does not seem nearer an amicable resolution.
Because the two town departments are effectively suing each other, the Greenwich Town Attorney’s office recused itself from representing either side. Both Mr. Camillo and the school board hired outside counsel.
A Motion to Dismiss the case was expected to be heard on October 5, though Mr. Camillo’s attorneys requested on Friday to delay that date.
If the matter is not dismissed next month, filings show it continuing to wind its way toward an eventual trial in the summer of 2027. (A trial had been set for April 2027, but now that date is delayed until Aug 10, 2027.)
At issue in the lawsuit are dueling appointments to the BOE. Republican Jennifer Behette garnered the support of four out of five BOE members present at an Oct 21, 2024 emergency meeting that was later invalidated by the FOIA commission.
The next day, Tuesday, Oct 22, 2024, the Board of Selectman voted 2-0-1 to appoint harbormaster Paul Cappiali to the same seat on the BOE. Janet Stone McGuigan abstained, saying, “…I have not seen any written legal opinion from our town attorney that the Board of Selectmen has standing to vote on a BOE vacancy. I’m concerned that we are conflating our authority to break a deadlocked vote for the chair for the BOE with an authority to fill a vacancy.”
Mr. Cappiali was part of a Republican slate of candidates for the school board in November 2025. He was officially elected on November 4, 2025, and was sworn in at a school board meeting on November 20, 2025.
While litigation involving the Town is often discussed in Executive Sessions by the Board of Selectmen, filings in the case with Stamford Superior Court have continued through the spring and summer of 2026 with no visible trace of discussions by the Selectmen.
In an update on the court website Judge Kristin Conners, on Sept 15 ordered that a court trial is now scheduled for Aug 10, 2027.
She is now the fifth judge to interact with the case, following Robert Genuario, Kevin Tierney, Sheila Ozalis, and Yamini Menon.
It’s also difficult to tell what other financial oversight exists over the case either. The matter doesn’t appear on any agenda of the full BET so far this year.
The Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET) Law Committee did discuss the lawsuit in executive session on July 14.
One notable court filing occurred in February 2026 when attorneys for the Greenwich Board of Education filed a new motion to dismiss and asked the court for a ruling for an award the defendants’ attorney fees from the BOE’s appropriated funds.
Since the lawsuit was filed in late 2024, the First Selectman’s legal bills have been paid with taxpayer funds. No records of how much has been spent so far are publicly available. The Board of Education has funds available to pay for legal expenses within its appropriated budget, but the Town has not released the funds.
The February filing for defendants reads in part, “Declaratory rulings are warranted because the Town of Greenwich has unlawfully refused to release payment for the attorney fee expenses approved by the GBOE from its appropriated funds, which the GBOE has incurred in defending the litigation instituted by the Town against the GBOE. The Town has wrongfully and in bad faith refused to release payment for the attorney fee expenses approved by the GBOE from its appropriated funds for the purpose of obtaining a litigation advantage for the Town in denying the GBOE the funds necessary to defend against the litigation instituted against the GBOE by the Town.”
At an RTM Budget Overview Committee meeting in May 2026, where a motion was made by vice chair Jennifer Andrews to reduce the town law department budget, she noted $496,646 had already been incurred for the BOE lawsuit. While the motion to reduce failed, there was passionate discussion about the ongoing litigation between the First Selectman and the Board of Education.
BOC chair James Waters said, “The town attorney has recused herself and cannot authorize payment of those legal fees (BOE legal fees) so they are sitting in limbo.”
Notices of deposition were sent to several current and former Democrat BOE members as well as Republican, Jennifer Behette by Mr. Camillo’s attorneys in late May, only to be put be put on hold.
Another filing in May with Stamford Superior Court shows attorneys for the First Selectman asking the judge in the case for permission to amend their complaint.
Previously, Mr. Camillo had requested a judicial declaration that, upon the FOIC ruling that the October 21, 2024 ‘Emergency Meeting’ was conducted in violation of the FOIA, all subsequent BOE meetings in which defendant Jen Behette participated as a BOE member, or in which Mr. Cappiali was prevented from participating as a BOE member, to be null and void.
The May 4 Request to Amend the plaintiffs’ complaint includes amended requested remedies including an amended list of judicial declarations, one of which is related to stripping legal indemnity from the “BOE Defendants” (page 42 of document; page 15 of the redlined amended complaint).
This week, a Sept 15 2026 motion from the plaintiffs Camillo and the Town for summary judgement requests the court deny 9 of the defendants’ substantive requests for relief, including several that are related to payment of the defendants’ legal expenses, though it’s unclear when that motion might be heard.
While the terms of any settlement offers between the two sides have not been made publicly available, a vote by the BOE to settle the matter failed in June.
A July filing by Camillo’s legal team on behalf of former school board member Dr. Michael-Joseph Mercanti-Anthony, a Republican board member, and Mr. Cappiali sought to disqualify the BOE’s legal counsel from representing the two of them, reasoning that the defendants’ attorneys had “an inexorable conflict of interest.”
Dr. Mercanti-Anthony resigned from the school board in August. So, it would appear only Mr. Cappiali is opposed to being represented by the BOE’s attorneys.
On Friday Camillo’s attorneys filed a motion for continuance on the motion to dismiss.
See also:
Town of Greenwich vs BOE: Defendants File New Motion to Dismiss; Request Town Pay Their Legal Fees
March 2, 2026