A Massachusetts court judge has partially dismissed a former finance chief’s lawsuit against the municipality that fired him just about a year ago.
Anthony Ansaldi, who previously served as CFO of Concord, Massachusetts, in late 2025, sued the town and its manager Kerry Lafleur, alleging that leaders unlawfully fired him after he raised concerns about the municipality’s financial practices.
In the complaint, he argued the town violated whistleblower protection law and his own civil rights. He also alleged that Lafleur intentionally caused emotional distress and interfered with “advantageous business relations.” In a ruling handed down Sept. 1, Associate Justice Julie Green dismissed Ansaldi’s claims of civil rights violation and intentional emotional distress.
But Green rejected defendants’ request to dismiss Ansaldi’s claim about interference with “advantageous business relations.” His allegations of whistleblower protection violations are also likely to proceed to trial; defendants did not seek to have that count dismissed.
Ansaldi’s legal team appeared undeterred by the partial dismissal, with his lead lawyer telling local media outlet The Concord Bridge that the whistleblower charge remains the heart of the case. The outlet reported that the case likely won’t go to trial until 2028.
Lawyers for Ansaldi didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment sent Monday.
In his 2025 complaint, Ansaldi had argued he “inherited a dysfunctional finance department with longstanding issues tied to Defendant LaFleur's prior tenure as CFO.” He started working as the town’s CFO in October 2023 and was terminated in September 2025.
Ansaldi went on to say that he discovered the town had been making illegal Social Security payments to non-eligible employees for over 30 years. He also sought an external review of a more than $600,000 deficit owed to the federal government. However, LaFleur “resisted, knowing it would reflect poorly on her prior performance,” the complaint said.
According to court documents, Ansaldi was placed on administrative leave on June 26, 2025, and filed a whistleblower notice on June 30, 2025. Ansaldi had “asserted all allegations against him were fabricated and based on issues that originated under LaFleur's prior leadership.”
In her Sept. 1 order, Judge Green said the court agreed with the defense team’s argument that Ansaldi “failed to allege sufficient facts to make out a violation” of Massachusetts’ civil rights law. She also dismissed a claim that Lafleur inflicted emotional distress, writing that “the Court concludes that the allegations in the complaint do not allege the kind of ‘outrageous’ conduct sufficient to support such a claim.”
