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Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Ind. Decisions - "Orban Suit Finally Reaches Settlement"
City of Warsaw and R. Paul Schmitt v. Richard and Jan Orban (NFP) was issued Dec. 31, 2007. In a lengthy and somewhat confusing story today, Daniel Riordan of the Warsaw Times-Union reports:
After nearly 10 years and millions of dollars in lawyer fees on both sides, a settlement has been reached in favor of Rick and Jan Orban, of Warsaw.The Orbans were arrested and charged with multiple felonies after a dispute with their Carpet Express business partner David Melching.
The State of Indiana and the insurance carrier for the City of Warsaw paid the entire amount of the jury verdicts against Department of Revenue Agent Rick M. Albrecht and former Warsaw Police Department Captain R. Paul Schmitt. The insurer for Schmitt and the city contributed more than half of the total settlement.
Schmitt currently is the town marshal of Winona Lake.
Warsaw City Attorney Mike Valentine declined comment, citing the nature of the settlement, which was confidential.
Rick Orban said that he and his wife were relieved with the verdict but that the settlement couldn't bring back the 10 years they spent dealing with the case. * * *
"Judge Hamilton said that it was either 'the most incompetent investigation in the history of Indiana or the most malicious'", said Orban.
A state court jury found Revenue Agent Albrecht liable in 2006 for conspiring with then-detective Schmitt to wrongfully prosecute the Orbans for crimes they did not commit.
The jury determined that the Orbans' damages from their wrongful prosecution, including damage to their reputation and earning ability, totaled $1,575,000.
That jury verdict was reversed on appeal because the Court of Appeals held that Schmitt was entitled to a separate trial of the claims against him in Federal Court.
In April of this year, a Federal Court jury agreed that Schmitt conspired with Albrecht to wrongfully prosecute the Orbans. The federal jury independently reached a nearly identical damages verdict of $1,586,000.
In addition to paying the entire judgment, the state and Schmitt's insurer agreed to pay the Orbans' attorney fees and expenses in both the federal and state trials and appeal.
At the April trial in federal court, Albrecht testified that he agreed with the verdict that was entered against him in the 2006 state court trial.
Schmitt's trial counsel in federal court did not dispute that the Orbans were innocent of the criminal charges that were filed against them, but Schmitt denied that his actions were malicious.
The defense argued that Schmitt acted reasonably on the basis of incomplete or inaccurate information he had been given at the time the charges were first filed. The jury disagreed.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 20, 2009 04:28 PM
Posted to Indiana Decisions