Update: The town of Greece on Friday filed a motion asking the court to vacate its earlier default judgement. In a statement, Greece town Supervisor Bill Reilich blamed the town's failure to appear on "an innocent, good-faith clerical mistake." He went on to say that the town stands behind the Police Department, that both "steadfastly deny the allegations" and intend to vigorously defend against the lawsuit in court — if given the chance.
The original story is below:
When he called 911 in late summer of 2023, all Ken Budinski wanted was to save his beloved Arborvitaes trees from being cut down by the automotive repair shop workers next door.
Today he appears poised to receive a $1 million payout from the town of Greece over its failed response on that day and since.
Details of what allegedly happened are set out in a lawsuit the 84-year-old Budinski filed in U.S. District Court.
Budinski called Greece Police on Sept. 1 to report the two men for destroying 14 trees planted along the perimeter of his business. That business is Bud Labs, a lubrication and friction testing company on Dewey Avenue. Budinski planted the trees around 2011 to create a buffer between the automotive business and his shop. The trees had never been an issue until that morning, when he came by the shop and caught the two men in the act.
He described the responding officer as flippant, declining to press any charges against the men. He also noted that the officer was reluctant to give him his name or badge number.
So, he took a different legal tact: handwriting and filing a federal lawsuit against the Greece Police Department. In that complaint, he alleged the department violated his 14th Amendment right to property by failing to protect his trees from being cut down. His two requests were for the two men who had damaged the 14 trees to be arrested, and to be compensated $1 million for “police negligence.”
He filed the complaint on Oct. 6 and served notice of the lawsuit to the Greece Police Department that same day, according to federal court records. He heard nothing back from the town, he said.
There also was no town response filed in court, records show. In federal court a defendant has 21 days to return a response to a complaint. At that point, they risk default, meaning the plaintiff can ask the court to award the monetary relief being sought. That decision can be made by the court clerk.
According to Cornell Law School, the court clerk is able to make a judgment if the plaintiff has made a request for a specific sum, or the sum is able to be calculated by the clerk.
Budinski requested a default judgment on Nov. 27. And U.S. District Court Clerk Mary Loewenguth issued a judgement for Budinski the next day, records show, awarding him the full $1 million, plus $50,000 as interest.
“The time for defendants to appear, answer, or move against the complaint has expired,” Loewenguth’s judgment reads.
Budinski was told by the court that he need not take any further action. Still nothing happened. Until Thursday.
After WXXI News left messages with Town Supervisor Bill Reilich and other Greece officials about the case, the town filed its first notice in the lawsuit. Court records show Greece has retained two lawyers—Erin Elmouji and John Mancuso, both of Weaver Mancuso Brightman PLLC—to represent the town in the case.
Neither Elmouji nor Mancuso returned requests for comment.
Reilich, in a phone call, said he was unaware of the complaint until Thursday.
“Bottom line is it’s the first I’ve heard of it and I’m investigating it now,” Reilich said. “And I mean getting to the bottom of why I don’t know about it.”
Reilich declined to comment on the retention of the two attorneys, nor any legal avenues forward for the town.
Budinski, standing outside of Bud Labs’ storefront, also was short on words. He said he was worried about retaliation from the town.
“You can put this in your piece, I’m scared of what they, the Town of Greece and the police here, can do,” Budinski said. “They can do a lot of things.”
