Saturday, December 01, 2007

Linehan Wins Race Discrimination Claim Against Marion County Coroner

CORONER ORDERED TO PAY NEARLY $430,000 TO FORMER CHIEF DEPUTY
Former Chief Deputy Coroner John Linehan has won a race discrimination claim he brought before the EEOC under the Government Employee Rights Act of 1991 against his former employer, Marion County Coroner Kenneth Ackles. Linehan contended in his case that Ackles, an African-American, discriminated against him and other white employees and contractors for the office after he took office in January, 2005. Ackles fired Linehan and replaced him with a less-qualified African-American employee of the office. Administative Law Judge Arthur Liberty ordered the Marion County Coroner to pay Linehan $160,000 in back and front wages, $200,000 in compensatory damages and over $66,000 in attorney's fees to his attorneys, Paul Logan and Jay Meisenhelder of the law firm of Haskin Lauter LaRue & Gibbons. The Coroner's office can appeal the administrative law decision to an EEOC panel or the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. I'm reviewing the 67-page decision and will have more later.

6 comments:

Sir Hailstone said...

Good.

Now with any luck you are successful with your client Dr. Radentz

Anonymous said...

Jay Meisenhelder? Isn't he the guy that got into some hot water when he was in Sex Crimes in the Marion County Prosecutor's Office?

Gary R. Welsh said...

I sat in on much of the ALJ hearing in this case. Both Jay and Paul did an excellent job representing Linehan. It's pretty bad someone would try to smear him after winning this important case. As I recall, the incident in question involved bad judgment but nothing illegal, although the incident was portrayed at the time by some to smear Carl Brizzi in the heat of a re-election.

Anonymous said...

Just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to blatant racial discrimination at MCCO.

Anonymous said...

I wasn't trying to smear anyone, that name sounded familiar. I don't recall the incident being used to smear anyone. I seem to recall Brizzi dumping him rather quickly, and conducting a thorough investigation.

I just found it odd that his name would surface in Marion County again. Similar to how Jack Crawford never returned to Lake County after his issue.

Anonymous said...

As a co-worker of Jay's when the incident in question happened, I would disagree with your minimizing of the facts. While nothing technically illegal happened, that is largely due to the fact the victim was prompt in her complaint. It also goes directly to his trustworthiness in representing his clients. It is just plain sick, and should have caused a written disciplinary complaint at minimum.

I also don't recall the issue coming up during the re-election. One thing Kennedy did was generally take the high road regarding the personal scandals of Brizzi's management team.