City of High Springs Faces Federal Lawsuit From Fired Firefighter
Update: Court records show this case is scheduled to go to a jury on October 13 in the event the parties don't reach an agreement at mediation.
A former lieutenant with the High Springs Fire Department (HSFD), Frederick Finley, is suing the city in federal court.
The lawsuit was launched in September 2025 with the filing of the initial complaint, which was amended two months later. The case remains open today and the parties are scheduled to mediate next month.
Finley alleges he was “subjected to disparate treatment, different terms and conditions of employment, and held to a different standard because of his status as a protected whistleblower, his gender, his disability, and because he reported [High Springs’] unlawful employment activities and was subject to retaliation thereafter… The disparate treatment and retaliation came at the hands of specifically but not limited to Fire Chief Joseph Peters and City Manager Jeremy Marshall.”
Peters was appointed fire chief on May 6, 2024. Finley alleges that almost immediately following Peters’ appointment, firefighter Kim Arnold was “promoted into a Lieutenant position created specifically for her, bypassing standard procedure related to promotions.” The lawsuit alleges that Peters exhibited favoritism towards Arnold because “Arnold reportedly favored Peters’ daughter.”
“As a result, Arnold repeatedly violated departmental policy with impunity, while [Finley] was aggressively scrutinized and ultimately disciplined for conduct that was minor or policy-compliant,” states the lawsuit.
During Hurricane Helene in September 2024, Arnold allegedly had an “angry and disruptive outburst in the [HSFD] Station, in front of non-fire personnel including upper management for the [High Springs] Police Department.” Allegedly, no disciplinary action was taken because of this.
On the other hand, the lawsuit indicates Finley was written up by Peters after asking for a change for a Kelly Day, which are paid days off municipalities will give firefighters to reduce overtime costs. The lawsuit states Finley’s request was within city policy. Further, Peters allegedly “resurrected a years-old write-up against [Finley] from 2021 where his entire shift was written up as a pretext to create a fabricated pattern of misconduct against [him], accusing him of violating the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for [the High Springs] Fire Department.”
The lawsuit alleges that after Peters became chief, Finley was “consistently belittled and either he was accused or [his] subordinates were accused of policy violations.”
On November 21, 2024, City Commissioner Chad Howell, who was investigating the city’s decision to eliminate the HSFD heavy rescue vehicle, allegedly sought Finley out at the station to talk to him about it. There had been debate about the vehicle from city commissioners and Howell asked Finley questions about the safety of the vehicle, according to the lawsuit. Finley responded that “there were life safety risks due to delayed response times with the vehicle.” The lawsuit states that later in the evening at the commission meeting, Howell relayed Finley’s concerns, identifying Finley as the source of the information.
The lawsuit continues, “Chief Peters personally witnessed Howell’s conversation with [Finley], and Commissioner Howell later told [Finley’s] father that he felt he had ‘put a target’ on [Finley’s] back. [When] Howell left the Fire Department after talking to [Finley], Peters gave [Finley] a look like ‘I can’t believe that the Commissioner came to talk to you and not me…’ The actions described above against and involving [Finley] significantly contributed to [his] stress and need for [Family and Medical Leave Act] FMLA leave, which he submitted on November 22, 2024 for [diagnosed] depression.”
The lawsuit states Finley’s depression specifically stemmed from workplace stress, and that the city was made aware of the depression when he requested leave. Finley “took FMLA leave for the first time for 24 hours in late November, 2024, [and he] gave notice to Peters that he was taking this time off under the FMLA,” states the lawsuit.
Through 2024 and 2025, Finley allegedly made several internal verbal complaints to Peters and others, including:
The lawsuit alleges that on October 24, 2024, Finley “reported to Peters in writing through an email that there were payroll discrepancies and that his employees were not properly paid for work performed during a state of emergency. Peters forwarded this email to the City Manager and [the] City attorney, the latter of whom stated that the employees must be paid. The employees were not paid… [Finley] followed up through email again to Peters the first week of November, 2024 about the failure of the City to pay the employees in accordance with the City attorney’s directive. He questioned how the employees were going to cover their bills because of the City’s failure to properly pay them. He also stated that ‘this is wrong in so many ways, Chief.’ He received no response.”
The lawsuit further alleges that Arnold chastised a mentally handicapped volunteer. “She told him that he stinks, had bad ‘BO,’ was a liability to the Fire Department and should not be there," allegedly. The lawsuit states Finley reported this to Peters.
Near the end of November or early December 2024, Finley allegedly met with Peters and told him that he “needed to stop playing favorites with Kim Arnold by allowing her to get away with everything but punishing the male employees… After making these disclosures, [Finley] became the subject of intensified targeting. He was disciplined for the Kelly Day request (wrongly framed as falsification)... in early December 2024.”
The lawsuit continues, “At the same time, [there were] multiple Group I and Group II violations by other personnel—including falsification of records, threats, grooming policy breaches, minimum staffing violations, and derogatory statements—went entirely undisciplined. All of these employees were on Kim Arnold’s shift, primarily. Kim Arnold specifically falsified records regarding drug logs and never signed in or out after taking drugs out of a protected drug container which [Finley] reported to a Captain and it was reported to Peters. She also failed to follow SOP on scene at fires and other emergencies and was incompetent at times performing her job duties, which was reported by [Finley] to Peters. No action was taken against Arnold. In many of these instances, [Finley] personally reported these infractions to Peters and was met with hostility or further targeting.”
In late December 2024, Finley took his second 24-hour leave under FMLA with notice to Peters, the lawsuit states.
On January 11, 2025, Marshall terminated Finley, allegedly citing “repetitive misconduct” and “failure to meet leadership standards.” Finley was allegedly “denied pre-termination hearing or notice of the charges against him other than these general categories. No progressive discipline was used, despite a personnel policy requiring oral or written reprimands before suspension or termination. The charges against him were false… [Finley] was escorted from the premises by police, in an unnecessary show of force that further humiliated and injured his professional reputation. Evidence suggests the City had pre-planned the termination [as] before informing [Finley], Marshall contacted [ACFR] to request coverage for [his] shift.”
According to the lawsuit, Finley’s termination violates the law due to him not getting time to respond to the allegations which prompted his termination.
According to the lawsuit, Finley’s supervisor, Andy Burkhaulter, “was told that there had been an ongoing investigation of [Finley] for the ‘past month based on his repetitive misconduct.’ Burkhaulter asked Marshall why he, as [Finley’s] supervisor, had not been advised of the investigation. It appears that he received no response. Importantly, at the time of [Finley’s] termination, he had just received his evaluation with a rating of 4.5 out of 5, showing his stellar performance.”
According to the lawsuit, on April 29, 2025, Finley was hired at the Live Oak Fire Department. However, it’s alleged that he was “terminated on May 28, 2025 in response to retaliatory or defamatory communications from [High Springs] officials to Live Oak City officials. At the time of his termination from the City of Live Oak Fire Department, [Finley] was in good standing with that department, excelling as a firefighter, and even being encouraged to assist management in training other fire fighters.”
The lawsuit states Finley now works as a construction supervisor because his termination forced the career change and caused him to lose his “lifelong plan to be and retire as a firefighter.”
The lawsuit presses the following civil charges:
In their response to the court, the city denied nearly all the allegations. They did admit that Marshall terminated Finley but did not admit to the alleged reason for the termination.
The city also acknowledged that Finley “submitted FMLA leave paperwork on or about November 22, 2024, that the FMLA leave paperwork was for ‘moderate to severe anxiety/depression,’ and that the FMLA leave paperwork requested periodic/intermittent FMLA leave for ‘exacerbation of anxiety and depression…’”
Although there’s an upcoming mediation conference, both parties have called for a jury trial in court documents.
Court records indicate Finley is demanding $75,000 in restitution.
It appears the City of High Springs has retained counsel in this case from Jacksonville-based attorney Kendall S. Manini of Marks Gray Law Firm. The City Attorney's Office, i.e., Folds Walker LLC, does not appear to be representing the city.
Manini "focuses her practice on defending employers in workplace matters including discrimination and harassment claims, wage and hour law, restrictive covenants, commercial litigation and government liability," the Daily Record reports. "Manini also conducts independent workplace investigations involving discrimination, harassment and retaliation."
Finley has retained counsel from Marie Mattox, an employment law and civil rights lawyer who has her own firm. According to her website, Mattox and her firm "have a solid record of results and a reputation for passionate defense of constitutional rights."
