FRANKLIN — Filings from both sides in the lawsuit between the city and a downtown business owner suggest the case is headed for a jury trial.

The case, brought by Miriam Kovacs against the city of Franklin, the Franklin Police Department and several city officials, is based on her complaints about being targeted by white supremacist groups, what she considers an inadequate response by the local police department and how she feels she was maligned and discriminated against by the city and its officials when she publicly criticized their response.

In a docket filed in Merrimack Superior Court, the defendants, which include Police Chief David Goldstein, City Manager Judie Milner, former Mayor Jo Brown, city councilors and another member of the police department, accuse Miriam Kovacs, owner of The Broken Spoon, a Central Street eatery, of bringing the suit “in bad faith” and are seeking a counter claim to hold Kovacs responsible for the defendants’ legal fees.

“... the allegations contained in the plaintiff’s complaint are duplicative, non-meritorious, significantly distorted and in some cases simply demonstrably false. Further, the plaintiff has brought her complaint either without an appropriate investigation of the underlying facts or with a disregard as to the accuracy of her allegations,” states the filing, filed with the court by Wescott Law, the firm representing the plaintiffs. The filing includes a request for a trial by jury.

Though the defendants deny most of the points raised by Kovacs, who is represented by Michael Lewis of the firm Rath Young Pignatelli, the defendants’ response admits some points.

Kovacs, who is of Jewish and South Asian heritage, alleged in her complaint that at least one member of the city’s police department was associated with the “Proud Boys,” a group considered to be neo-fascist and the leader of which was sentenced to 22 years in prison for its role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

In the city’s response, it confirmed the incident, but noted the officer is no longer employed by the department. The response states, “To provide additional context regarding this incident, on information and belief, a former officer of the FPD was photographed attending an event that was allegedly organized by Gavin McInnes, who is a founder of the Proud Boys. As soon as this photograph was brought to Chief Goldstein’s attention, Chief Goldstein contacted the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office to seek input as to how to handle the issue.

“Chief Goldstein was advised that because the officer was not pictured in an FPD uniform or otherwise identifying himself as a Franklin officer, and the event was a private event that took place while the officer was off duty, there was nothing Chief Goldstein could do as the officer’s employer.” The city also noted there was no reason to believe the officer was a member of the Proud Boys, or that any other officers were affiliated with the group.

When Kovacs claimed that several of her requests for public documents — referred to as “91-A requests” because state law RSA 91-A governs public records — were inadequately fulfilled, the city acknowledges this possibility: “The city has produced in excess of 1,000 pages of documentation in response to multiple 91-A requests by either the plaintiff or her attorneys. While not admitting the truth of the allegation ... the city concedes that in handling multiple requests requiring this much documentation, it could result in some minor omission.”

In another complaint, Kovacs accused Councilor Jay Chandler of deriding her speech during a public meeting. Chandler denied deriding her, though he said he “commented on profanity used in plaintiff’s social media and compared it with her lack of use of profanity in public meetings...”

Similarly, Kovacs alleged that at the same meeting Milner and Brown discussed Kovacs’ mental health, using terms such as “two-sided, “bipolar” and “psychotic.”

From the defendants’ response: “City Manager Milner admits that as an aside she may have referred to the plaintiff’s social media posts as ‘psychotic,’” though she did not intend it to be a commentary of Kovacs’ overall mental health.

Brown, for her part, denied using any of the specific terms. “By way of further answer, the audio recording does depict someone saying the words ‘bipolar’ and ‘psychotic,’ however it is unclear who the source of those comments is, and those words are said at a very low volume,” states the defendants’ response.

Late last year, Kovacs offered to settle the case out of court, if the city would agree to pay for her legal fees and agree to a series of reforms. The city denied, stating that doing such would amount to an admission of wrongdoing on its part.

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