A former South Abington Twp. police officer suing the township for refusing to rehire him falsified evidence and perjured himself in a last-ditch effort to save one of the claims in his lawsuit, an attorney for the township says in court papers.

Former officer William Dubiak's actions caused the township to incur needless attorneys' fees in the two-year-old federal lawsuit. The behavior is so egregious that the only remedy is to dismiss the entire case, attorney Eric B. Meyer of Philadelphia said in a motion for sanctions.

Scott Schermerhorn, Mr. Dubiak's attorney, said his client "vehemently denies" the allegations.

"He will prove that their position is untrue in court," Mr. Schermerhorn said.

Mr. Dubiak, an Iraqi war veteran and Marine Corps sergeant, filed suit in December 2012 against the township, alleging officials violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act when they refused to rehire him after he returned from active duty in 2009. Part of the lawsuit hinged on whether Mr. Dubiak ever sent a letter seeking reemployment with the township following his June 18, 2010, discharge from active duty.

According to the motion for sanctions filed Friday:

Mr. Dubiak testified in a pretrial deposition that he wrote a letter on his computer seeking reemployment and sent it to the township on June 22, 2010. He later altered his story, saying the document was written on a public computer at Lackawanna Junior College.

The township obtained a court order to conduct a forensic analysis of his computer. The analysis revealed the letter, which the township said it never received, was actually created on March 30, 2013 — a few weeks after the township notified Mr. Dubiak it was seeking to dismiss his case for his failure to seek re-employment.

Additional forensic evidence showed the file name associated with the March 30, 2013, letter was later changed from "employee letter June 2010.docx" to "E.docx," which Mr. Meyer contends was done in attempt to conceal it from detection in the forensic analysis.

Federal law allows a party to seek sanctions, including dismissal of the case and attorneys fees, if the opposing party is found to have provided false information. Mr. Meyer said this case clearly qualifies.

"It's hard to imagine more willful or bad faith behavior," Mr. Meyer says in the court motion. "Had Mr. Dubiak never manufactured the evidence ... South Abington Township never would have incurred any attorney's fees or costs in defending this baseless claim."

Contacted Tuesday, township manager David O'Neill said the township has not spent any money to defend the case yet as the defense costs have been paid by the township's insurance carrier. Mr. O'Neill said he did not know whether the township's insurance policy contains a deductible. Mr. Meyer said he could not comment on whether a deductible exists or the amount the insurance company has paid his firm.

Mr. Dubiak's lawsuit is based on two sections of the USERRA: One section requires he show the township discriminated against him based on his service; the other requires only that he show he applied to be re-hired, but was denied.

The motion for sanctions applies only to the second section. Mr. Meyer asks that the entire case be dismissed, however, due to the egregiousness of the alleged conduct.

"Anything less than full dismissal of Mr. Dubiak's claims sends the message that courts will tolerate manufacturing evidence, perjury and efforts to tamper with evidence to preserve otherwise baseless claims," the motion says.

The motion for sanctions seeks action only against Mr. Dubiak. It does not make any allegations that Mr. Schermerhorn was aware of Mr. Dubiak's alleged conduct.

U.S. District Judge Robert D. Mariani, who is presiding over the case, scheduled a phone conference for Jan. 9. He will rule on the motion for sanctions at a later date.

Contact the writer: tbesecker@timesshamrock.com