Judge orders Ottawa County to pay $188K for health officer's legal fees after yearlong lawsuit
In a ruling issued on Monday, Aug. 26, 20th Circuit Court Judge Jenny L. McNeill ordered that Ottawa County pay for Adeline Hambley’s costs to hire attorney Sarah Riley Howard.
OTTAWA COUNTY — Exactly six months after the yearlong legal saga between Ottawa County’s far-right majority on the board of commissioners and its health officer was settled, a judge has ruled that her $188,000 in attorney’s fees must be paid for by the county.
In a ruling issued on Monday, Aug. 26, 20th Circuit Court Judge Jenny L. McNeill ordered that Ottawa County pay for Adeline Hambley’s costs to hire attorney Sarah Riley Howard along with various resources provided by Howard’s legal firm Pinsky Smith — to the tune of $188,179.24.
Read More: Ottawa County Board votes unanimously to retain Hambley as health officer
The lawsuit, filed in February 2023 by Hambley, came after the Ottawa Impact controlling majority on the board tried to first demote her. After she filed the lawsuit, which claimed the board overstepped its legal authority when it tried to demote her at the first board meeting of the freshmen commissioners on Jan. 3, 2023.
The Ottawa Impact majority voted to demote Hambley to “interim” health officer shortly after they were sworn in at the meeting. OI is a far-right fundamentalist group created by now-Board Chair Joe Moss and Vice Chair Sylvia Rhodea after they unsuccessfully challenged the previous board and county health officer over COVID-19 mitigation mandates in 2020 and 2021.
Hambley sued the following month, kicking off two years of unprecedented strain between the board and the county’s health department.
In April 2023, a circuit court judge granted Hambley a preliminary injunction, allowing her to remain in her role until a trial could take place. However, the Michigan Court of Appeals partially vacated that injunction, saying the board had the legal right to fire Hambley as long as state law was followed.
Throughout summer 2023, the board, then-administrator John Gibbs and Hambley battled over a proposed budget for the department. In the end, the OI majority voted to cut millions.
Moss filed notice Sept. 27 that a termination hearing was planned over allegations of “incompetence, misconduct and neglect of duty" during budget negotiations. The hearing, the first steps of legally firing a health officer, began in October and has stretched on through several recesses for more than four months.
In a Nov. 6 session, the board voted 7-3 to “accept counsel’s recommendation regarding litigation and settlement activities in the case of Hambley v. Ottawa County.” Following the meeting, multiple sources close to the matter told The Sentinel the agreement included paying Hambley $4 million to resign, plus the resignation of Mansaray.
Following reports of the settlement amount, Ottawa Impact commissioners attempted to walk back the agreement. As recently as Feb. 22, Moss referred to the settlement and dollar figure as a “false narrative.”
Hambley filed a motion in court to see the settlement enforced, but during an evidentiary hearing in January, Muskegon County 14th Circuit Court Judge Jenny McNeil found — although an agreement was discussed — the public vote wasn't clear enough to be legally binding.
On Feb. 26, the commissioners voted unanimously (11-0) to keep Hambley and Deputy Health Officer Marcia Mansaray in place as part of a settlement agreement to end Hambley's long-standing lawsuit against the board; Mansaray has since retired in May.
Other parts of the agreement were that all litigation was dropped, a multi-session termination effort by the board ended with no determination and that there would be no monetary award for damages.
Both parties also agreed that McNeill would decide how much of Hambley's attorney fees will be covered.
On Monday, McNeill ruled that Howard was entitled to all the attorney fees she sought.
“The Board clearly wanted to terminate (Hambley). The Court made a finding that the Board did not follow the law, as she was the duly appointed Health Officer,” McNeill wrote in her ruling. “The Court of Appeals upheld that ruling, but allowed the (county) to proceed with a hearing as allowed by law. Therefore, the (county) is responsible for attorney fees as a result of the attempt to terminate her without a hearing.”
McNeill noted in her ruling that the main request in Hambley’s lawsuit was for her to remain in her post.
“The end result of the litigation is that the Plaintiff maintains her status as the Health Officer, which was her request from the beginning,” McNeill wrote in her ruling. “Her assertion that the Defendants had no basis to terminate her, and caused unnecessary litigation is logical, under the circumstances. The Court finds that attorney fees are appropriate based on the Defendants’ conduct.”
Read More: Hambley lawsuit could cost taxpayers more than $370K
The decision means the total cost to taxpayers likely will be upward of $400,000.
Howard’s costs are only a portion of what the county will pay as a consequence of the lengthy litigation. As of Oct. 23, $178,834.74 in invoices were paid to the county's corporation counsel, as well as a handful of outside legal firms, to defend the county and individual officials against the lawsuit.
Additional costs were likely incurred in December, January and February, with more court hearings and the 12-hour mediation session in February prior to the board’s vote to retain Hambley and settle the case.
— Contact Sarah Leach at SentinelLeach@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @SentinelLeach. Subscribe to her content at sentinelleach.substack.com.
I know Matt Witkos has a running tally of legal fees through the insurance authority. I think a major update will come soon.
Good! Some justice for Adeline, anyway.
The idiots of OI have cost Ottawa County far more than money. We’ll be mopping up after their mess for years.