Ex-jury commissioner's suit dismissed by judge
A Butler County judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against the county by former jury commissioner Jon Galante.
Judge Marilyn Horan wrote in a decision Nov. 19 that she has accepted the county’s preliminary objections to Galante’s case and the county’s motion to dismiss the case. Galante has 20 days to refile an amended complaint.
Galante, a Republican from Butler Township, was appointed to the position in October 2012. He won the primary May 21, 2013. On May 23, 2013, the county commissioners voted to abolish the jury commissioner positions. The county had two jury commissioners — one Republican and one Democrat.
He sued the county in May for $15,000 plus interest for campaign expenses, time, effort and lost income. He named county commissioners, the elections bureau, Commissioner Bill McCarrier, Commissioner Dale Pinkerton and elections director Shari Brewer in the suit.
Galante, who represented himself, said in a hearing Nov. 2 that his case is a contract claim, citing a legal concept called promissory estoppel, which states that a promise can be enforced even if a contract does not exist.
He said he spent $10,000 to win the election. Because of the promise that the position would exist for the next four years, Galante said he spent time and money to run for it.
Galante said he was never contacted by anyone saying the position would be eliminated, and he said he was not given due process. If the county chose to eliminate the position before the election, he said he probably would have saved money.
Horan wrote in her opinion that this does not constitute a contract.
At the hearing earlier this month, Horan said Galante did not establish prerequisites for claiming damages in his complaint.
The county noted that the State Act 4 of 2013 authorized county commissioners to abolish the position of jury commissioner.
Additionally, the county claimed McCarrier and Pinkerton were immune from legal liability on the basis of legislative action. The county also argued Brewer was not in a position to overturn any kind of legislation.
Horan wrote in her opinion that McCarrier, Pinkerton and Brewer are entitled to immunity in the case.
In 2014, Galante reached an accelerated rehabilitative disposition with the state attorney general’s office in another legal case.
He was accused of bypassing the random juror selection process and purposely sending juror candidate questionnaires to three county officials — including Pinkerton and McCarrier — and a county resident. Galante said he did that to show that voter fraud could occur and that jury commissioners are needed to curb such fraud.
Galante said in an e-mail that he will amend the complaint and file it again.
He claimed the county is the only county in the state that eliminated the jury commissioner position following an election. He said he hopes the incoming board of commissioners “does the right thing” and compensates him for his losses, saying that amount is “a drop in the ocean” compared to the county’s annual budget.
“Look, I’m not Donald Trump. I’m a guy who served his county for $18,000 a year and spent well over half of his yearly salary campaigning to continue serving his community. Forget draining my savings account, this drained my bank account and for the first time in my life I was behind on credit card bills,” Galante said.
County solicitor Mike English said the county is pleased with the court’s decision.
