Former WHEC (Channel 10) meteorologist Jeremy Kappell filed a lawsuit Monday afternoon over his dismissal from the station last January.

In a civil complaint, Kappell alleges that he was fired after being accused of making a racial slur during a weather broadcast on Jan. 4.

During a segment that showed a live shot of the city's Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park, Kappell appeared to call it "Martin Luther Coon King Jr. Park."

Kappell, who had been WHEC's chief meteorologist since October 2017, said at the time that the incident had been "a simple misunderstanding" that arose because he "jumbled a couple of words."

The incident was thrust into the public spotlight two days later when Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren and City Council President Loretta Scott called for Kappell's firing.

The station's vice president and general manager, Richard A. Reingold, apologized to viewers on the air the next day, calling what Kappell said "a racial slur" and saying it was inexcusable that the incident wasn't caught immediately.

"I regret that we did not immediately interrupt our broadcast and apologize on the spot," Reingold said in a statement announcing Kappell's firing.

The language of that statement is at the heart of Kappell's lawsuit. In court documents, Kappell says that Reingold reached that conclusion without any sort of investigation or opportunity for Kappell to speak on his own behalf.

In court papers, Kappell describes the incidents as a "linguistic error," and says that it wasn't until after the mayor and others declared that he'd made a racial slur that the station decided to fire him.

The civil complaint says that Reingold's statement "attributed a non-existent intent to Kappell that Reingold could not reasonably had knowledge of and representing to the world that Kappell had intentionally uttered a racial slur."

Kappell's suit says that his firing was a violation of the terms of his three-year contract As a result, he has suffered lost wages and emotional distress.

The suit also alleges that Kappell has seen his prospects for re-employment "severely damaged by defendant's callous and reckless conduct."

The suit seeks an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages, and names Reingold, the station, and its parent company, Hubbard Broadcasting, as defendants.

The station acknowledged Kappell's lawsuit in a brief statement.

"We are disappointed that Mr. Kappell has taken this step, and are prepared to defend our decision to the fullest," the statement said. "Because this matter is now in the courts, we will have no further comment."

SLAHMAN@Gannett.com