A nearly seven-year lawsuit against Herkimer County, which was brought by the lower-county villages of Herkimer and Ilion and the Town of Frankfort, ended on Wednesday, September 21, with a final judicial ruling in the County’s favor being entered in the Oneida County Clerk’s Office.
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Patrick Russell said that even though the County prevailed in the case, he is disappointed that the municipalities had been unwilling to work with the county to settle the dispute outside of court.
“The cost to litigate this case was significant, but more importantly it was needless,” Russell said.
Supreme Court Justice Anthony J. Paris seemed to agree.
“Many attempts were undertaken to amicably and reasonably resolve Plaintiff’s indebtedness to the county, but whether client or attorney driven, Plaintiffs steadfastly resisted and refused to accept any reasonable compromise,” Justice Paris said in his decision.
“Further, the case had no merit,” Russell said.
Justice Paris’ ruling seemed to support that sentiment as well.
“At trial, Plaintiffs (Villages of Herkimer and Ilion and Town of Frankfort) produced no credible evidence of plan mismanagement or actuarially unsound methodology,” the Justice wrote.
The lawsuit, which was filed in October 2005, had charged that Herkimer County officials had committed various acts of mismanagement relating to the administration of the county’s Worker’s Com-pensa-tion Self-Insurance Plan.
Though it ended in 2005, the plan was still responsible for payments on open claims that had been filed previously by employees of local towns and villages and the county.
Citing alleged County mismanagement, the villages of Herkimer and Ilion and the Town of Frankfort refused to pay their part of those projected costs.
Instead they took the County to court.
The case had involved proceedings before two Supreme Court Justices in three counties, including a jury trial in Oneida County and review by an Appeals Court in Rochester.
The jury verdict was unanimous in finding that the County had not engaged in mismanagement.
The County had presented the testimony of various individuals and experts, including three actuaries, during the eight-day trial.
In its decisions, the courts ordered the villages of Herkimer and Ilion and the Town of Frankfort to pay over $6 million to the County, including $2 million in interest penalties.
Still it’s been a sad episode, according to Patrick Russell.
“The worker’s compensation plan was created to benefit all of Herkimer County’s towns and villages—more than 30 of them—as well as the county itself. It is unfortunate that this minority, by refusing to work to a solution, has forced a waste of time and resources in defending against what was clearly an unreasonable and ill-advised action.
“We need to start working together and stop slogging ourselves in all this negativity,” Russell said.
