Deputy’s Wrongful Termination Verdict Upheld
The Montana Supreme Court has upheld a jury verdict in the case of a Park County sheriff’s deputy who filed a wrongful termination lawsuit after he was fired in June 2007 for insubordination.
In a recent opinion, a five-member panel of justices sided with Deputy Blake Blatter, who was fired after the department said he “willfully disobeyed orders’’ and “demonstrated gross inefficiency in the performance of his official duties.”
The allegations stemmed from the deputy’s refusal to file a report on a rumor he heard about the relationship between two Park County jail employees. Blatter’s attorneys argued he had a right to privacy because he heard the rumor while he was off duty.
In January, a District Court jury ruled in the deputy’s favor, awarding him nearly $96,000 in damages and reinstating him to his former job. He returned to work this year, but the monetary damages were put on hold while the case was appealed to the Supreme Court.
Park County lawyers argued that the verdict should be reversed for several reasons, including a decision by District Judge Nels Swandal that they said allowed inadmissible evidence at the trial. The evidence bolstered Blatter’s claim that the reasons stated by the sheriff’s office for the termination were false, the attorneys said.
Blatter’s attorneys said there were other reasons for their client’s firing.
In May 2007, the deputy took a suicidal man to a hospital in Park County, but the staff told him he would have to take the man to another facility because they did not have room for him.
According to court records, Blatter was ordered to instead “arrest the suicidal male for disorderly conduct, put him in jail and drop the charges the next day.”
Blatter followed through but wrote in a report that he did not agree with the order.
Two weeks later, he was placed on paid suspension for insubordination and making a false statement. Blatter was fired June 8, 2007.