Best: Clausi, 2 others bagged lawsuit policy

June 24--SUNBURY -- Two Northumberland County commissioners are investigating whose "bright idea" it was to waive insurance coverage that may end up costing taxpayers $1.2 million as a result of a successful civil lawsuit filed by two former sheriff's deputies.

An insurance policy does not cover Northumberland County's legal fees associated with the case of Michael Boris and Joseph Jones, who learned late June 12 a jury agreed that they were deprived of their constitutional right to free speech and due process by Northumberland County Commissioner Vinny Clausi and former Sheriff Chad Reiner.

Boris and Jones were fired in late 2009 for allegedly viewing pornography on county computers. They claimed in their lawsuit filed in 2010 their employment was terminated because they were investigating Clausi's alleged involvement in organized crime. Jurors awarded the fired employees $ 550,000.

The county originally waived the insurance company's involvement in favor of in-house counsel. The county's own legal fees could top $250,000 by the end of the case. Boris and Jones are also seeking an additional $534,523 in attorney fees, court costs and delay of damages.

All told, taxpayers may be hit with a bill totaling $1,134,000.

Controller Christopher Grayson said Tuesday the county does not have reserves in the budget to cover expenses related to the case.

While Clausi on Tuesday cited the advice of county attorney Michael Apfelbaum to refrain from comment on the case pending a ruling on a post-trial motion, Stephen Bridy and Rick Shoch, who unlike Clausi were not commissioners in 2009, said someone other than the county taxpayers should be held responsible.

"I am looking into the issue of who it is at the county who had the bright idea to waive the insurance coverage," Shoch said. "That should have never happened. It's basically saying you're willing to walk a high wire with no safety net."

Shoch wants to know if that person had the authority to waive the insurance and whether he or she can be forced to indemnify the county if they were acting illegally or erroneously.

Bridy blames former solicitor Timothy Bowers and former assistant solicitor/chief clerk Kymberley Best.

"It's reprehensible that they decided to not send it to the insurance company and fight it on their own," Bridy said. "In my opinion, their malpractice insurance should pay for this."

Bowers and Best, legal partners in Sunbury, say Bridy has his facts wrong.

Bowers was hired as an outside council first in February for the case and then hired as the solicitor later in the year. He wasn't initially involved, they said.

"In 2009 I was appointed to be the assistant county solicitor with the expectation that I would be full time and that I would defend the county," Best said. "At the time the original sheriff suit was filed, it looked much different than it did in 2011 when I, myself, was wrongfully terminated from the county."

A decision was made in a workshop meeting to use Best, a fulltime solicitor, as the attorney to handle the case when the lawsuit complaint was only defamation.

Best, a candidate for Northumberland County commissioner in November, said the decision to waive the insurance came from Clausi and then fellow Commissioners Kurt Masser and Frank Sawicki.

With high insurance premiums, the positive would be a savings in attorney fees, the negative would be paying out of pocket if the case is lost, Best said.

Best said it's "presumptuous" of Bridy to assign blame, especially since he wasn't a commissioner at the time.

"The current board has continued to assume the risks associated with moving to trial for nearly five years which is well beyond my influence," she said.

At a Dec. 29, 2009, commissioners' meeting, Clausi accused two unidentified sheriff employees of viewing pornography on county computers. Two weeks later, Boris and Jones lost their jobs when Reiner fired them.

The former deputies said Clausi orchestrated their firings because they claim they were investigating the commissioner for alleged involvement in organized crime. Reiner testified he fired Jones and Boris for failing to secure their online computer passwords and for not being responsible for material retrieved with their passwords.

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