A Mount Laurel man has received a $150,000 out-of-court settlement after suing state police and an auto shop, saying he was falsely arrested in a dispute over a repair bill.
Acting on a complaint from the shop owner, a trooper went to Richard Greenberg's home on Feb. 22, 2007, and placed him in handcuffs because Greenberg had stopped payment on a $129 check, according to court documents.
Greenberg had stopped payment because he suspected that the Oil Station in Hainesport had ruined his car, said his lawyer, Michael Ferrara Jr.
The state police settled the case for $135,000; Oil Station paid $15,000 on the eve of a trial scheduled for February, Ferrara said.
An appeals court ruled last year that Greenberg had the right to go before a jury to argue he was falsely arrested and imprisoned, reversing a trial judge who found that the trooper had probable cause to make the arrest.
"We're happy the attorney general agreed to do what was right," Ferrara said. "We hope that this never happens to anyone else."
Greenberg could not be reached for comment. He said in an interview last year that he thought the trooper was acting as a collection service for the station.
He said that after he was taken to the state police barracks in Bordentown, he was chained to a bench and taunted by Sgt. Steven M. Jones. The sergeant resigned in 2011 after admitting that he took $7,000 worth of gasoline from a state pump for personal use.
When Greenberg agreed to pay Oil Station the $129, he was released and was not charged.
Peter Moran Jr., owner of Oil Station, said in an interview last year that he had called police but did not intend for Greenberg to be arrested. He said that he had called police other times and that a trooper would bring the customer back to him to pay a bill.
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