Former Luzerne County Chief Public Defender Albert J. Flora Jr. has sued the county and county manager Robert C. Lawton in federal court, seeking a preliminary injunction to retain the acting chief public defender position Lawton fired him from on April 17.
The complaint in Flora v. Luzerne County, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, alleges that Flora was let go partially in retaliation for a class action suit he filed last year in which he alleged the county and Lawton showed "deliberate indifference to the funding needs" of the Adult Unit of the Luzerne County Public Defender’s Office.
