Keith Nygren
Zane Seipler
Yesterday, McHenry County Blog showed you the legal expenses resulting from the dismissal of Sheriff’s Deputy Zane Seipler. That case has been through arbitration, which Seipler won, circuit court, which Seipler won, and is now in the 2nd Appellate Court.
It is my understanding that if Sheriff Keith Nygren loses at that level, Seipler’s legal fess will have to be paid by county taxpayers.
Aside from that suit, however, there is a much more expensive one going on in Federal Court in Rockford.
There Sheriff Nygren is being defended by attorney James Sotos. While it is a wrongful termination suit, most of the case has revolved around whether the Sheriff’s Department was involved in racial profiling.
In any event, the over $400,000 in bills paid so far follow.
County government seems to be in “free money” land now. As the accompanying email points out,
“Please note in the case of Seipler v Sherifff’s Dept & County et. al the self insured retention (deduction) has been paid by the County. ClaimOne is the third party administrator for Illinois Counties Risk Management Trust (insurer) and is responsible for cost above the retention level.”
That deductible is $100,000.
This case, of course, has not yet gone to trial.
It is still in the discovery stage.
Nygren does not care.
Nygren has lots and lots of payouts we have and will make because of the incompetent department he runs.
This all could have been prevented if Nygren and his supervisors handled things properly. They got ample warning about a lot of things. I guess it is not easy to run a Sheriffs Office from a cell phone out of state!!!
Mr. Seipler sure is a handsome man.
Sheriff Nygen should be embarrassed when his picture is displayed next to Mr. Seipler, like it is here.
Hotsy Totsy Ring A Ding Ding!!
I hope he gets his job back so he can pull me over.
An inhouse attorney would be far less costly if all he or she did was Nygren related legal work.
there should be a group of mchenry county residents, tax payers get together and say they will not accept this open check book policy of nygren with the citizens hard earn money. Just where are the county board members of mchenry county at right now ? they should all be voted out of office if they dont step up and demand in investigation, and stop this money leaving our wallets.
plus what did nygren tell the county board member on why 2009 and 2010 overtime at the sheriffs office was through the roof ? didnt he blame it on the patrol deputies ?something doesnt sound right here either
So if I am understanding the article correctly the legal fees for the last year+ and moving forward are not being covered by the county but instead by their insurer? If the deduction has already been met there certainly is no perceived need on the counties side to settle this thing anytime soon if they strongly believe in their position about the individuals falsification of documents.
But -Fiddle, Fiddle.
What about all the out of court settlements that have been and will be paid out for Nygren’s loosing causes.
When all the info is brought out, depos etc. Zane will win hands down and Nygren knows it. He does not want Zane in the office while there are things he may not want Zane to witness. As an officer, he would be required to report.
Attorney Jim Sotos (good friend and associate of Attorney Terry Ekl) is making a fortune off this case. Interesting, the State’s Attorney alone determines in-house or outside attorneys. Further, the State’s Attorney solely determines the pay rate for outside attorneys and approves their legal fees. Why is our State’s Attorney allowing this outrageuous legal fiasco to continue at exorbitant cost to us?
Nygren is the one that decided to drag it out. Check out the filings in the Fed Court and see what Nygren has been up to to mislead and waste time. Things that had to be done again because of his behavior. He is a nightmare client for a lawyer.
The sheriff may be a nightmare client, but why doesn’t our State’s Attorney cut off the high-priced outside attorney? The State’s Attorney has the power to assign his own in-house attorneys regardless of what the sheriff wants. The State’s Attorney may not be responsible for this fiasco, but he alone is responsible for the assignment to outside counsel and resulting legal fees. He promised to reduce outside legal fees by bringing legal work in-house. Well, get it done. Afraid he’ll anger the sheriff?
The SA is short attnys and the board will not give a reasonable budget to get qualified people. He still does not have a first asst. Not all of the in house are qualified for this type of litigation. The SA’s do not make big bucks and for many this job is a stepping stone, a starter job. That is the reason for high turnover. They have school loans to pay off and need to get some experience and move on. We are not even in line with what the other counties pay asst SA’s. Nygren’s worthless supervisors make a lot more than the asst. SA’s. Nygren has more than 40 some lawsuits to deal with and not enough attny’s. Lou has more done in house than any SA in the past. It seems that some of the money wasted on Nygren’s outside defense should go to hiring more qualified “in house”. The way to end this is to “cut off the head of the snake” the source of the problems, Nygren..