Zoeller: A dangerous precedent for future officeholders if ruling stands
Today Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller took action to appeal a court ruling last week that ordered the Governor to give a deposition in a civil lawsuit. State law prohibits a civil deposition of a Governor about his official duties, Zoeller contended in court papers today that ask the court to allow the Attorney General to intervene in the appeal.
“Requiring any sitting Governor to appear for a deposition would set a dangerous legal precedent for state officeholders and constitutes a threat to the separation of the coequal branches of government. A statute on the books for more than a century shields any Governor from testifying, so the trial court’s interpretation should be reviewed by a higher court before the overall lawsuit proceeds,†Zoeller said, noting the Attorney General’s Office has the responsibility for representing all state elected officials and all branches of state government.
On December 15, a Marion County Superior Court judge issued an order requiring Governor Mitch Daniels to testify in a deposition in a lawsuit and countersuit between the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) and IBM over a canceled contract for welfare-delivery services. A deposition is sworn testimony with cross-examination taken outside of court.
FSSA is represented by outside counsel in both lawsuits and seeks to stay, or prevent, the deposition from taking place and to appeal the deposition order to an appellate court. The Attorney General filed a motion and brief today seeking to intervene in the case and represent the Office of the Governor institutionally during the appeal of the deposition order only. Today’s filings set forth the Attorney General’s legal position for why an immediate appeal should be allowed.
The FSSA and Attorney General seek to certify the deposition order for interlocutory appeal, meaning they ask the lower court to allow its ruling to be reviewed by a higher court – either the Indiana Court of Appeals or directly to the Indiana Supreme Court. If a stay is granted, no deposition of the Governor would take place in the FSSA-IBM lawsuits in the meantime. Once the appellate court rules on the legality of the deposition order, then the case would be sent back to the trial court where proceedings would resume in the overall lawsuit and countersuit.
Judge David Dreyer has not ruled yet on the Attorney General’s motions.
