Chastising the defense for its “overly aggressive litigation strategy,” a federal judge has ordered the School District of Philadelphia to pay about $1.3 million in attorney fees, costs and prejudgment interest to a vendor that lost out on a no-bid contract when former Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman illegally steered the work to a minority-owned company.
Security and Data Technologies Inc. previously won a $2.3 million jury verdict in its civil rights suit against the school district. The amount represented the profits the company lost after Ackerman deselected it as the recipient of a $7.5 million contract to install security cameras in several Philadelphia schools. Following the verdict, SDT sought $815,281 in attorney fees, $48,177 in costs and $433,808 in prejudgment interest. SDT was represented by attorneys from Flaster/Greenberg.
