INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita this week congratulated his litigation team for winning all of its eight civil jury trials this year. Rokita is the state’s chief legal officer and his office is its law firm.
Litigation Chief Counsel Patricia Erdmann said they saved Hoosier taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The cases involve lawsuits against state entities in which the Office of the Attorney General is the defense team.
In one case, a terminated employee of the Vigo County Department of Child Services sued for defamation after the employer referred information about her to local police. A jury ruled against the woman.
In another, a former metrologist at the Indiana Department of Health’s Division of Weights and Measures sued the director for firing him after a month on the job, alleging disability discrimination. The state argued he wasn’t fulfilling his role’s responsibilities. A jury agreed.
There were several cases involving prisoners among the office’s jury trial victories.
- In one, a prisoner sued the Westville Correctional facility warden and others for confiscating his religious materials and refusing to return them, and for preventing the confiscation. A jury found in favor of the state.
- A second Westville prisoner filed an unsuccessful suit alleging an incident of excessive force.
- A third inmate at the same facility also sued the warden and others, accusing them of mishandling his multiple mental health disorders by falsifying his medical records and incorrectly administrating his psychiatric medications. The prisoner alleged an incident of excessive force caused a mental breakdown, during which he attacked two officers.
- A Pendleton Correctional Facility inmate sued staff accusing them of providing inadequate mental health care.
- Another prisoner alleged negligence in fire safety procedures after a 2017 blaze at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.
