SPRINGFIELD — After a Superior Court judge denied a request by the city in May to dismiss a lawsuit filed by 19 current Westfield Police Department officers alleging they should have been paid “regular wages” when attending police academy, the city answered the lawsuit weeks later denying nearly all of the officers’ allegation of wage theft, according to court documents.

Last September, Springfield-based attorney Jeffrey Morneau with Connor & Morneau representing the officers of the department filed a lawsuit against the city with three separate complaints referred to as counts.

Count 1 alleged that officers attending the police academy should have been paid the same wages as regular officers since they had been “appointed” to the position of “Police Officer” and the city was “obligated”

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