Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine reported Tuesday that more than a dozen lawsuits filed by two former Madison County employees have cost taxpayers more than $270,000.
Haine reported that as of mid-August, the county’s legal fees to defend 18 separate lawsuits filed by former County Administrator Doug Hulme and former IT Director Rob Dorman amounted to $271,568.43.
“It’s a sadly typical case of frivolous lawsuits driving up costs for taxpayers,” Haine said.
Hulme and Dorman were appointed to their positions by Chairman Kurt Prenzler in 2016. Then in 2018, a task force created by former Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons raided the county administration building and seized computers as part of an investigation involving Hulme and Dorman.
Visiting Judge Jerry Crisel appointed Attorney General Kwame Raoul as special prosecutor. The case was closed in 2019 without any charges filed.
Hulme and Dorman were later terminated by the County Board in 2020.
In response, they have filed more than 18 cases against Madison County and/or county offices, claiming they were denied due process.
Haine said none of the cases advanced beyond the pleading stage, with Madison County winning dismissals in nine cases before litigation advanced.
In a case filed last year (22-MR-288), the presiding judge said the case was filed “without a legal basis, in bad faith and for the purpose of harassment.”
Haine said taxpayers have also had to foot the bill for processing more than 200 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests submitted by Hulme and Dorman since 2020.
“At the same time that they are pursuing dozens of lawsuits against the county and various county officials, these individuals have filed hundreds of wide-ranging requests under the Freedom of Information Act against multiple county offices, each of which has to be reviewed and in some cases processed by a staff attorney,” Haine said. “The State’s Attorney’s Office has had to devote hundreds of hours to reviewing and processing those requests.”
“The County very happily answers many FOIA requests every month from citizens seeking information about how their government is operating,” he added. “That is a good thing, because transparency is key to good government. But FOIA should not be used as a tool to merely harass government offices or to try to soak up their resources and distract their operations. Such actions abuse the spirit of FOIA and waste significant taxpayer-funded time and resources.”
Hulme and Dorman previously said they were working to gather documents related to the task force’s investigation in order to prove they were investigated in response for trying to stop Democratic Party political activity on county time.