February 17, 2014 at 11:19 a.m.
Oneida County, former medical examiner challenging lawsuit
Taxpayer-funded insurer hires law firm for England
Oneida County, former medical examiner challenging lawsuit
By Jonathan Anderson-janderson@lakelandtimes.com
Earlier this month England was sentenced to one year in jail after reaching a plea agreement on charges of misconduct in public office. She was criminally charged in 2012 for using human tissue and part of a deceased person's spine to train her dog to search for cadavers. Later that year, prosecutors filed additional charges against England alleging she used human remains without permission to train dogs at a law enforcement exercise in Madison.
The family of the deceased person whose remains were used in that Madison training filed the lawsuit in January. They have alleged a variety of federal and state claims against England and Oneida County: that England and the county deprived the family of their property interest in the body, destroyed or abused the body, caused negligent infliction of severe emotional distress and acted negligently.
In responses to the lawsuit filed late last week, the county and England either denied all of the principal legal claims against them or have asserted that they lack sufficient knowledge about the claims.
The county and England have also raised a long list of defenses to the suit, including immunity, that the lawsuit was filed too late and exceeded the statute of limitations and that whatever property interest the family had in the body was not sufficient.
The plaintiffs originally filed the lawsuit in Oneida County Circuit Court, but lawyers representing the county removed the case to federal court, according to Brian Desmond, the county's corporation counsel.
Taxpayer-funded insurer hires lawyer for England
Separate law firms are representing the county and England, but both firms were hired by the same insurance company that the county holds a liability policy with, Wisconsin County Mutual Insurance Corporation.
Desmond said in an interview that he was not told why County Mutual determined it had a duty to defend England under the county's liability policy.
Officials from County Mutual have not responded to repeated requests for comment.
The county's 2013 and 2012 liability policies cover past and present employees while acting within the scope of their employment or authority. Desmond said he did not believe the language of liability policies from prior years at issue in the lawsuit would have defined coverage differently.
Yet, the answer the county has filed in the case repeatedly and explicitly claims that the actions England is being sued for "were not committed within the scope of her employment with Oneida County."
Desmond declined to comment on why the county's insurance company is paying to defend England even though the county is asserting England was not acting in her official capacity when she took human tissue and organs without permission to train cadaver dogs - conduct that was not part of her job duties and for which she was criminally charged.
Oneida County has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in premiums to County Mutual in at least the past few years for the liability policy: $201,144 in 2012, $208,641 in 2013 and $207,299 in 2014. The county must also pay a $10,000 deductible because of the lawsuit.
That money comes from the county's property tax levy, according to County Clerk Mary Bartelt and the county's finance director, Margie Sorenson.
Desmond said the money Oneida County has paid to County Mutual may be used toward the legal fees for England and the county.
"That's what I understand as to how the process works," Desmond said.
A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Brian Formella, did not immediately return a voice mail seeking comment.
Jonathan Anderson may be reached at janderson@lakelandtimes.com
Comments:
You must login to comment.