City of Springfield v. Civil Service Commission

The Springfield board of police commissioners twice suspended and then dismissed Officer John Lynch in 1984 for his refusal to answer questions about alleged drug use within the police department without an express grant of *613immunity from criminal prosecution. Lynch appealed his dismissal to the Civil Service Commission (commission), which ordered the city to reinstate him. The city appealed the commission’s decision to the Superior Court in this action in the nature of certiorari under G. L. c. 249, § 4 (1986 ed.). On the city’s motion for summary judgment, a Superior Court judge reversed the…