NEWARK–With the Bridgegate trial now over, a federal judge has ruled that Paterson Police Director Jerry Speziale can have his day in court.

In a ruling filed Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda Wettre reopened a whistleblower lawsuit Speziale filed against the Port Authority that had been put on hold more than a year ago pending the outcome of the Bridgegate trial.

Speziale originally filed the lawsuit in 2014, claiming he was the victim of retaliation and harassment in the wake of his hiring as the Port Authority’s deputy police superintendent–a position that took him out of his well-funded re-election campaign as Passaic County Sheriff.

Among those named in the lawsuit included David Wildstein, the high-ranking patronage appointee at the Port Authority at the center of the scheme of political retribution that became the Bridgegate scandal.

Wildstein, who pleaded guilty to his role in the 2013 toll lane closings at the George Washington Bridge, was the government’s key witness against Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority, and Bridget Anne Kelly, a one-time deputy chief of staff to the governor. Both were convicted of conspiracy and fraud in connection with the scheme that sought to punish the mayor of Fort Lee for not supporting Gov. Chris Christie for re-election.

During his testimony, Wildstein told the jury that Christie wanted the Port Authority to hire Speziale, then the Passaic County Sheriff running for re-election as a Democrat, because he wanted to help the Republicans win the election in Passaic County.

“Governor Christie told me, and others–this was not a one-on-one conversation–was that he was trying to win a sheriff’s race in Passaic County and wanted Mr. Speziale to have that job,” he testified.

Speziale, one of the county’s top Democratic officials, dropped his re-election bid and took the $198,000 position with the Port Authority.

In his lawsuit, he said he was hired with a mandate to uncover and report corruption and wasteful spending in the agency’s 1,700-member police department. However, he claimed that after he reported violations, he was subject to retaliation. In his complaint, he alleged he was forced to leave.

He claimed he was denied security credentials for Port Authority facilities, making him unable to respond to an emergency unless he was escorted; had his work vehicle taken away; and was denied medical leave benefits for his terminally ill wife and prevented from traveling with her to Texas for treatment. He also said his Facebook account was hacked into and was assigned to trivial and meaningless tasks.

Months before the Bridgegate trial began, Wettre, who is hearing Speziale’s civil suit in federal court in Newark, administratively stayed the case because witnesses in the two cases would overlap.

Speziale’s lawsuit alleged violations of whistleblower protections, creation of a hostile work environment and other claims, seeking unspecified compensatory damages including back pay and future pay.

In a filing last week, Speziale’s attorney, Gabriel Halpern, asked the judge to restore the matter to the active calendar with the Bridgegate trial now resolved, and schedule a case management conference to set new deadlines for discovery.

The judge approved the request.