Saturday, October 29, 2011

Will Sheriff miss Supreme Court appeal filing deadline?

Sheriff Nygren has a critical deadline facing him, and that's in the (wrongful) termination matter of Deputy Zane Seipler matter. He's waiting until the last minute to file his appeal of the ruling of the Illinois Appellate Court - 2nd District, which ruled against him about a month ago. How long did the sheriff have to appeal? Thirty days? Thirty-five?

And, if you remember a little farther back, Judge Thomas Meyer ruled against Nygren.

And, still farther back. the arbitrator ruled against Nygren.

But Nygren has plenty of money to keep up the fight against taking Seipler back. Of course, it's not his money on the line here. It's your money.

And I call him "Deputy Zane Seipler", because Nygren has not been successful in firing Seipler. The Northwest Herald has called him "former deputy", but he is still on board; he is still on the payroll, except he is not getting paid. Right now, he is entitled to all his back pay. How much will that be?

Someone told me recently that the Appellate Court didn't even hold a hearing in this case. I don't know what its decision-making process was; I kept waiting for a hearing date when arguments would be made in person. I was more than curious about how Nygren's attorney was going to stand in front of the three appellate judges and keep from being chewed up and spit out. Had I been Nygren's attorney, I would have advised him not to appeal Judge Meyer's decision. Of course, that would have ended the flow of County money to me for legal fees, but that would have been the right call.

If Nygren does appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court, I wonder if there is a way for Zane to get a hearing in 30 days and get the matter over with. What will Nygren do then, if Zane wins there or if the Supreme Court refuses to hear the case?

If the Illinois Supreme Court does refuse the case, then the Northwest Herald ought to bring out a Special Edition and blast the sheriff's waste of time and taxpayer money. It won't, of course. I predict Nygren will resign, when Zane wins at the Supreme Court level, and then Zinke will take Seipler back. Hopefully, Zane's lawyers can get a judge to order the Sheriff's Department to pay Zane in full no later than 30 days after that decision.

No comments: