Gesmonde, Pietrosimone, Sgrignari, Pinkus & Sachs v. City of Waterbury

The principal issue in this appeal is whether a municipal civil service commission has the implied authority to retain independent outside counsel when an obvious conflict of interest disqualifies the municipality’s corporation counsel from representing the commission. The present case involves a claim for attorney’s fees allegedly owed to the plaintiff law firm, Gesmonde, Pietrosimone, Sgrignari, Pinkus and Sachs, by the defendant city of Waterbury (city). The fees were incurred when the Waterbury civil service commission (commission) retained Attorney John Gesmonde to represent it in a…