Kevin Simpkins sued retired Battalion Chief Rory Houton and current Deputy Battalion Chief Paul Mannix in Brooklyn federal court, claiming they leaked the results of a marijuana test to The Post in 2012 after he helped lead a $98 million anti-hiring-discrimination suit against the city, according to court papers.
Mannix, the founder of the group Merit Matters, which opposed hiring quotas in the FDNY, is personally on the hook for $45,000.
He is slated to pay off Simpkins in 24 installments of $1,875, with the first sum due Monday, according to court documents.
Houton, meanwhile, will have to pay $10,000, court papers state.
His attorney said at the time that those who leaked the results of the test “did him a huge favor,” because the leak was illegal and it gave Simpkins a lot of bargaining leverage against the city.
“These illegal acts were done to humiliate, intimidate, discredit and retaliate against Mr. Simpkins and other firefighters involved in challenging the FDNY’s racially discriminatory hiring practices,” another Simpkins lawyer, Darius Charney, wrote in court papers.
The terms of the suit state that the settlement does not admit guilt.
In addition to the marijuana leak, the suit charged that Houton and Mannix passed along incorrect information about the circumstances of an on-duty accident that was also reported in The Post.
Charney argued in the suit that the leaks were civil-rights violations because department and state regulations prohibit the disclosure of personal information.
Mannix was suspended by the FDNY for 50 days without pay for the leaks and his vocal opposition to diversity initiatives. Fellow firefighters launched a fund-raising Web site for Mannix to compensate him for an estimated $30,000 in lost pay.
None of the parties involved commented on the settlement, including the FDNY.
