By Tracy Ouellette
Editor
The East Troy Village Board held a special meeting June 29 to approve a settlement agreement with the village’s insurance company and the lawyer the insurance company hired on behalf of the village during the lawsuit brought against the village by former administrator Judy Weter.
The village agreed to pay Weter $43,983.20 in back wages in September 2014 after reaching a settlement agreement with her through mediation after Weter filed a lawsuit asking for $334,465 in January 2014.
Weter’s position of village administrator was eliminated on Nov. 4, 2013. At the time, Village Board President Randy Timms said the move was a cost-cutting measure and the village wasn’t required to have an administrator.
The settlement reached with Darwin National Assurance Co. and the lawyer hired to represent the village in the matter – Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, states Darwin will pay Hinshaw an additional $16,729.31 above the $10,000 already paid by Darwin to Hinshaw for legal fees.
Village Board President said the issue of who was to pay the attorney stemmed from who actually hired the attorney. Timms said before the meeting, the attorney was hired by Darwin on behalf of the village, but after breaking down the attorney’s bill for the case, $16,000 of it was communication between the insurance company and the attorney. Timms said the Village Board members discussed the bill and decided they shouldn’t have to pay it because 1.) the village didn’t hire the attorney, and 2.) a large portion of the total bill (which was about $40,000 Timms said) was communication between the insurance company and the attorney it had hired. Cases such as this which often end up being media-centric would often need a posse of personal injury attorneys, while some could do with just one.
Clerk-Treasurer Eileen Suhm told the board the village’s attorney, Linda Gray, reviewed the settlement agreement and told her it releases the village from further responsibility in the matter to Darwin or Hinshaw.
