The Kentucky Supreme Court says a residency requirement for firefighters who work for the City of Paducah does not violate state law.
Nathan Torian, president of the local International Association of Fire Fighters union chapter, filed a lawsuit in 2021 against the city’s policy – which requires Paducah firefighters to live in McCracken County or within a 45-minute drive from Paducah Fire Department’s Station 4. His attorneys argued the policy violated a state statute that bars publicly funded emergency medical service first response providers and licensed ambulance services from implementing residency requirements.
But in an opinion issued Thursday by the state Supreme Court, a majority of the court found that, while city firefighters are required to become certified emergency medical technicians, the Paducah Fire Department does not qualify as an emergency medical service first response provider – and thus is not subject to the residency requirement ban under state law.
However, the state’s highest court noted that there is nothing in state regulations defining departments that combine firefighting and emergency medical services. In the opinion, justices urged the General Assembly to work to clarify which statutes that guide firefighting and emergency medical response in the state apply to departments that combine these services.
Torian is also involved in a federal lawsuit against the city of Paducah. The local IAFF president sued the city last month after city officials voted to fire him from his job in the Paducah Fire Department in October. One of the reasons the Board of Commissioners voted to fire Torian was due to him calling Supreme Court Justice Shea Nickell in August following oral arguments in the residency requirement legal challenge. The board said Torian disgraced the city and the fire department by “attempting to engage in inappropriate and unethical ex parte communications” with Nickell.
In the federal lawsuit, Torian’s attorneys claim the city unlawfully retaliated against him for actions he’s taken as a union leader, including filing the 2021 residency lawsuit. They also claim the city violated his rights under the First and 14th Amendments. In a document filed in federal court earlier this week, attorneys representing the city denied those allegations.
