BERNE — The lawsuit that Kevin Crosier brought against the town of Berne after the town board refused to apologize for removing him from a public hearing is now back in state court.

The town of Berne had removed the case to federal court but, on Dec. 11, in a nine-page decision, U.S. District Judge Anne M. Nardacci remanded the case to the Supreme Court of New York, Albany County and also ordered that fees and costs be covered by the town.

Crosier had until Dec. 25 to submit those costs. He told The Enterprise this week they totaled roughly $11,000.

He would still be willing to settle with the town, Crosier told The Enterprise on Monday.

Separate from the recent $11,000 in fees, Crosier said, “The town’s racked up close to $50,000 in court costs, which they have to pay regardless whether I win or lose.”

Crosier surmised that the town wanted the case heard in a federal court because “they thought that they would get more sympathy … they thought that it would be a bigger jury pool to pull from.”

Crosier was represented by Kevin A. Luibrand of Luibrand Law Firm in Latham while the town of Berne was represented by Gregg T. Johnson and Olivia G. Reinhardt of Johnson & Laws of Clifton Park.

No one elected to the Berne Town Board in November, and installed on Jan. 1, was on the board in February 2023 when then-Supervisor Dennis Palow ordered Albany County Sheriff’s deputies to forcibly remove Crosier from the hearing. However, Thomas Doolin, who was on the board at that time, is currently serving as Berne’s deputy supervisor, a non-voting role.

Crosier, a former town supervisor, is a Democrat while the board members in 2023 were all backed by the GOP. The current board has four Democrats and one Republican.

Crosier, the first person to speak before the board at the Berne-Knox-Westerlo auditorium on Feb. 20, 2023 about its draft ATV law, said two sentences — “Thank you for allowing me to speak this evening. It’s the town board’s responsibility to protect the health, safety, and financial stability of our community.” — when Palow interrupted him and tried to draw attention to a photo he had brought up on a large monitor that he said was of Crosier riding a utility vehicle on a roadway.

The apparent purpose of the photo, which had already been making the rounds on social media, was to show Crosier using one of the kinds of vehicles that the proposed law would allow on town roads, where they are currently prohibited except to cross from one property to another. Crosier was among a great many people who had spoken out against the law, in letters to the Enterprise editor and at the Feb. 20, 2023 public hearing.

Crosier’s attorney at the time, Jeff Baker — who was present to speak to the legality of the ATV law — told the town board members at the hearing that they had broken federal law by removing Crosier. 

“By making the Albany County Sheriff’s Department complicit in your illegal action, you have violated the federal civil rights of my client ...,” Baker said. “I strongly suggest that you apologize to Mr. Crosier for your behavior, or the town may very well likely face a lawsuit, for which it will also be responsible for attorney’s fees, for violating the First Amendment rights of somebody who was just addressing the board.”

The audience cheered at this.

Baker subsequently sent a letter to Palow and the other town board members, demanding a formal apology. When no apology was forthcoming, Crosier proceeded with a lawsuit, filing a suit in state Supreme Court — the lowest rung of a three-tiered system — on Dec. 11, 2023, alleging violations of his freedom of speech.

Crosier said this week that he switched lawyers because, while Baker was there during the hearing, Luibrand is an expert in civil-rights law. “When you’re sick, you go to a heart doctor; you don’t go to a dentist,” said Crosier.

In April 2023, Crosier sent a notice of claim to the town of Berne, stating that the award for damages would be determined by a trial, but not less than $100,000. 

Crosier’s suit alleges two causes of action: his right to free speech under the New York State Constitution and his right to free speech under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

On June 27, 2025, Crosier filed a motion to amend his complaint, retaining the same two causes but referencing a federal law as the statutory basis for the action under the First Amendment.

On July 1, 2025, Berne removed the case to the Northern District of New York but the town’s right to file a notice of removal had expired on Jan. 17, 2024, thirty days after the original complaint was served.

Because Berne was “untimely,” the case must be remanded to New York Supreme Court, Judge Nardacci ruled.

“The standard for awarding just costs and actual expenses turns on the reasonableness of the removal,” she wrote.

She cited an earlier decision that found the appropriate test for awarding fees “should recognize the desire to deter removals sought for the purpose of prolonging litigation and imposing costs on the opposing party, while not undermining Congress’ basic decision to afford defendants a right to remove as a general matter matter when statutory criteria are satisfied.”

Nardacci found that Berne “lacked an objectively reasonable basis for removing this action” in response to Crosier’s amended complaint “long after the statutory deadline had passed and discovery in New York state court was nearly complete.”

Berne’s arguments, Nardacci concluded, “have no basis in law.” Moreover, she writes, Berne failed to respond to Crosier’s arguments whether an award of fees and costs is warranted,” thereby conceding.

Asked this week if he would still proceed with the case, Crosier said he would. “We’ve got 120 witnesses there and a video,” he said.

“In the very, very beginning,” Crosier went on, “we had sent a letter to Mr. Palow and the town board and said, ‘All we’re looking for is an apology and promise you won’t do it to anybody else.’”

Referring to a court-ordered mediation last October, Crosier went on, “And they refused, and they refused to, in mediation, to really do anything …. And we were willing to settle … It’s my opinion that Dennis [Palow] wasn’t informing the town board or anybody of what was going on. I think he was making the decisions on his own.”

Palow could not be reached for comment.

Asked if he would be willing to try to reach a settlement with the new town board, Crosier, referencing Berne’s new supervisor, Joseph Giebelhaus, “What amazes me is that Mr. Giebelhaus appointed Mr. Doolin who’s been deposed in this lawsuit.”

Giebelhaus did not immediately respond to calls and an email seeking comment.

Doolin was the only 2023 town board member who responded to Enterprise questions after Crosier was expelled from the hearing. “From my position at the furthest [end of] the board table I did not clearly hear an inappropriate comment from Mr. Kevin Crosier,” Doolin wrote in a February 2023 email to The Enterprise. “There was only the beginning comment, ‘The board is responsible for the health and safety…’ Thereafter I am unclear on continued comment due to escalating noisy chatter for his removal.”

Pressed on whether he’d be willing to settle if the new town board saw it differently, Crosier said, “I would try to. Of course, it would be in the best interest of the town.”