Saying the lawsuit was premature, a Cook County judge has dismissed a legal action brought by a group of Cook County sheriff’s officers, who contend the sheriff’s disciplinary cases against them should be tossed because the sheriff’s disciplinary board’s members weren’t legally appointed at the time the disciplinary cases were filed.
However, an attorney for the disciplined officers says the decision actually bolsters a parallel case brought in federal court by other similarly disciplined Cook County sheriff’s officers, who contend the federal courts must step in to enforce the officers’ constitutional rights, and end what the lawyer calls a “never-ending circle of no relief.”
On July 26, Cook County Circuit Judge Sophia Hall granted Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s request to toss the lawsuit brought by sheriff’s officers Matthew Goral, Kevin Badon, Michael Mendez, Milan Stojkovic, David Evans III, Frank Donis and Lashon Shaffer.
Cass Casper
| Talon Law
The case is one of many lawsuits pending in Cook County and federal courts in Chicago against the sheriff’s office, based on the makeup of the Cook Count Sheriff’s Merit Board.
The board exists to hear disciplinary cases brought by the Cook County Sheriff against sheriff’s office employees, when the sheriff seeks to impose a punishment greater than a 30-day suspension. The board can decide to uphold or dismiss the charges, or reduce the sheriff’s recommended penalty.
In this case, the sheriff’s office has asked the Merit Board to terminate the seven plaintiffs for such alleged misconduct as false overtime reporting, detainee abuse, interference with an FBI investigation into detainee abuse and interference with a domestic abuse investigation, according to briefs filed by the sheriff’s office. All of the officers in this case have been suspended without pay, except Donis.
However, in this case, as in the similar lawsuits pending against the sheriff and the Merit Board, the plaintiffs have asserted the Merit Board has no legal right to hear the cases against them, because the board was illegally constituted. In this case and the others like it, the officers have asserted Dart improperly appointed board members to interim terms, and not staggered, six-year terms as required by law.
The Merit Board was reorganized in December 2017 under a new state law intended to correct the membership irregularities and reauthorize the board, and the sheriff moved to reintroduce the disciplinary cases before the new Merit Board.
The plaintiff officers, however, argue this does not address or remedy the prior board’s actions.
In asking the court to dismiss the action brought by Goral and the other six officers, the sheriff argued, in part, the lawsuit came too soon, as the disciplinary cases are still pending before the newly authorized Merit Board.
Judge Hall agreed.
“In the instant case, the administrative proceeding still pends before the Merit Board and plaintiffs, pursuant to the constitutional and statutory requirements, can exhaust their claims before the Board,” Judge Hall wrote.
Attorney Cass Casper, of Talon Law, of Chicago, who is representing the seven officers in this case, and other current and fired officers in other cases against the sheriff’s office over the Merit Board makeup, said the decision stands as the latest example of the “circle” his clients are facing.
On one hand, he asserted the disciplined officers can’t get relief from the Merit Board, as he and his clients assert the board was not legally authorized to hear their cases. And on the other side, he said, state courts are refusing to hear their cases, because the Merit Board hasn’t ruled.
“We’ve exhausted this issue before the Merit Board,” Casper said. “The Merit Board will not hear this issue.”
Casper has appealed Judge Hall’s ruling to the Illinois First District Appellate Court.
On Aug. 1, Casper and his legal team asked U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood for permission to amend a complaint pending in Chicago federal court on behalf of other disciplined Cook County sheriff’s officers, asserting Judge Hall’s latest ruling is an example of the need for the federal courts to weigh in on whether the “circle” the disciplined officers’ face violates their due process rights under the 14th Amendment.
In that federal case, Casper’s clients are seeking to make the lawsuit a class action on behalf of all Cook County Sheriff’s officers who faced disciplinary actions before the Merit Board before the law was changed in December 2017, and seeks at least $100,000 for each of those disciplined sheriff’s officers.
He said Judge Hall’s ruling “strengthens” their constitutional claims, and “actually helps us in the big-picture litigation war we’re fighting here on this question.”
Judge Wood had paused proceedings in the federal case in June, awaiting Judge Hall's decision on the lawsuit brought by Goral and his co-plaintiffs in Cook County court.
A representative of the Cook County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately reply to questions about the case from The Cook County Record.
Dart and his office are represented by attorneys Stephanie A. Scharf, Sarah R. Marmor, Deirdre A. Fox and George D. Sax, of the firm of Scharf Banks Marmor LLC, of Chicago.
The Cook County State's Attorney's Office is representing the county, the Merit Board and Preckwinkle.