EOWC commissioners’ court date moved to Dec. 4

EAST ORANGE, NJ — Former East Orange Water Commission Commissioner R. Greg Ward informed Worrall Media on Friday, Nov. 13, that the new court date is now Friday, Dec. 4, for the slander and defamation lawsuit Ward and fellow former commissioners Khalid Wright and Darry Walls filed against the city of East Orange, Mayor Lester Taylor, the East Orange Water Commission and various newspaper and media outlets, including Worrall Media, which publishes the Record-Transcript.

Ward, Wright and Walls have filed a discrimination case alleging the publication of “false and malicious information without any verification or determination of the facts regarding the performance of the EOWC.” Ward originally said the three would appear in court Saturday, Nov. 7, and changed the date to Friday, Nov. 20, before announcing the current court date.

Opposing their forced removal from the EOWC board by Taylor, the three former commissioners went to the City Council in 2014 to appeal what they believed were unjust and illegal actions on the mayor’s part, and won their case.

“We went to council and we won 8-0,” Ward said. “Two council people didn’t vote.”
Elizabeth attorney Ashton Thomas has filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of beleaguered city water customers that is scheduled to be heard in court Friday,
Nov. 20.