A federal judge has denied a Torrington Board of Education request to dismiss a lawsuit filed on behalf of a former town bus driver fired when she criticized Board of Education member and then-candidate for state representative Molly Spino on Facebook.

In a case that hinges on what constitutes and protects First Amendment speech, U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton ruled Monday that plaintiff Ashleigh Thibault's lawsuit against Spino and the local Board of Education can proceed.

The lawsuit, which was filed in June, seeks Thibault's reinstatement as a bus driver, as well as attorney fees and punitive and compensatory damages.

Citing violations of her First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, Thibault sued claiming she lost her job over the Facebook post. Thibault was critical of Spino, and supported Democratic opponent Michelle Cook, who featured her post on a Facebook campaign page during the 2018 race.

"Unfortunately, Molly will never take the blame for things … much like her children," according to a copy of the posting included in the federal lawsuit. "I have bit my tongue for quite sometimes now. … Politics in this town are absolutely disgusting. My child was singled out, bullied, talked down to by her children. She should focus on getting her mess under control before worrying about anything else."

Thibault alleged Spino was so angry about the social media post during her failed state House of Representative bid that she got Thibault fired.

The lawsuit claimed Thibault's former employer, All-Star Transportation Inc., had a contract with the school board. It maintains that one day after the social media post, Spino telephoned All-Star to complain about the post. Soon after, Thibault was removed from all of her Torrington bus route assignments as a contract public school bus driver, which, in effect, meant she was out of a job.

The judge found the post constituted off-duty and nonwork-related speech that was political in nature.

"The court agrees with plaintiff that her speech is protected by the First Amendment as a matter of law," Arterton wrote in her 16-page ruling.

The court disagreed with defense arguments that "plaintiff's speech is not protected by the First Amendment because the Facebook post was motivated by personal dislike and discussed defendant Spino's children and her parenting style."

Arterton wrote, "Although plaintiff's Facebook post may not have been a particularly high-minded piece of criticism, it is certainly protected by the First Amendment."

The judge continued, "As a basic principle, the First Amendment protects independent contractors like plaintiff." She cited a 1996 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Kansas case Board of City Commissioners v. Umbehr, which found the First Amendment protects independent  contractors "from the termination of at-will government contracts in retaliation for their exercise of the freedom of speech."

Arterton also ruled that Spino's arguments for qualified immunity as a public official failed. "Her arguments as to qualified immunity indicated that she may have been angered by plaintiff's Facebook post," the judge found.

Representing Thibault are Hartford-based Livingston, Adler, Pulda, Meiklejohn &  Kelly attorneys Mary Kelly and Thomas Meiklejohn. Kelly referred all comments to Meiklejohn, who did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Representing Spino and the Torrington Board of Education is Johanna Zelman of Hartford-based Ford Harrison. Zelman did not respond to a request for comment.

Spino, who works as a senior real estate paralegal at the Washington Depot-based Kelly Law Office, was on vacation Thursday and couldn't be reached at press time.

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