Rapid City Mayor Sam Kooiker wants a federal judge to dismiss him from a lawsuit filed by a former city landfill employee who claims the mayor's actions and shoddy police work cost him his job and damaged his reputation.
A federal magistrate judge will weigh in on legal elements of the federal lawsuit challenging the actions of the mayor when he was a city council member that led to the firing of Randy Meidinger in 2009.
The question to be decided is whether Kooiker is protected from such claims by the legal doctrine of legislative immunity.
U.S. Chief District Judge Jeffrey Viken has referred the case's most recent legal debate to Magistrate Judge John E. Simko of Sioux Falls.
Meidinger was a landfill scale house attendant when he was fired during a police investigation prompted by Kooiker's probing of landfill practices. Meidinger claims Kooiker's political ambitions, as well as shabby police work, cost him his job. He was later cleared of all criminal charges.
People are also reading…
Meidinger sued the city, Kooiker, Rapid City Police Chief Steve Allender, Lt. Peter Ragnone and former city employees John Leahy and Jerry Wright in federal court last year, claiming his constitutional rights were violated.
Jerry Wright, who was the city's solid waste superintendent when Meidinger lost his job, was dropped from the lawsuit with the mutual agreement of both sides in August. Wright is now a city council member.
In late September, the city's attorney, John Nooney, filed documents asking Viken to dismiss the case. Nooney also asserted a claim of "absolute legislative immunity" on the mayor's behalf.
Nooney argues that as a council member any actions taken by Kooiker are covered by legislative immunity because he was acting in his official capacity.
But that could depend on Simko's interpretation of Kooiker's conduct. Did Kooiker, as Meidinger argues, overstep his position to pursue an investigation into landfill operations that later became a foundation for his campaign for mayor?
"The benchmarks a court would look at is whether or not the conduct was within the scope of a person's duty," said Andrew Knecht, staff attorney for the South Dakota American Civil Liberties Union.
In general, legislative immunity protects legislators, judges and public officials for decisions they make in the course of their public duties, Knecht said.
"What would breach that would be if they did something that was very egregious or blatantly outside what their discretionary authority is," Knecht said.
Meidinger's team asserts that the former alderman's conduct is not protected. Kooiker began "his clandestine search for fraud" at the landfill because he was not satisfied with the internal investigation.
Kooiker was a member of the city council in 2009 when he pressed for a police investigation into allegations of corruption at the landfill that led to Meidinger's dismissal and ultimately, a criminal trial.
Meidinger was 42 when Wright fired him on Sept. 14, 2009. His termination came a few days after an interview with Ragnone. That December, he was criminally accused of giving Fish Garbage Service trucks an advantage by manipulating the contents of trucks and the weights of those trucks. A jury acquitted him in 2011 of all charges.
The city also filed and later dismissed a lawsuit against him.
Criminal charges against Fish Garbage Service were dismissed mid-trial, but the business ultimately agreed to pay the city $375,000 to settle a lawsuit.
Kooiker spurred the investigation into landfill practices, according to court documents. When an internal city investigation of landfill practices failed to satisfy Kooiker, he pressed for a police investigation.