Partial deal reached in hibiscus suit
Nationwide Insurance and agent Jonathan Yeamans have entered into a confidential settlement agreement with Edward and Audrey Cramer of Buffalo Township, after being sued by the couple for their role in an incident in October 2017 that alleges police acted on a false tip from the insurance adjuster that they were growing marijuana.
Those plants were later found to be hibiscus, the lawsuit claims.
The insurance company and Yeamans were removed from the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Details regarding that settlement agreement with Nationwide are not known, and attorneys for the Cramers were unavailable for comment.
Eric Hardgrove, representative for the insurance company, said, “Nationwide is pleased to have resolved this matter without further litigation.”
But the case continues against Buffalo Township and township police officers Sgt. Scott Hess, Patrolman Jeffrey Sneedon and Lt. Timothy Derringer.
Attorney Kyle McGee, who is representing the township and named officers declined to comment.
According to the original lawsuit, township police obtained a search warrant based on photographs taken by Yeamans following a damage assessment he conducted at the Cramer home in the 2100 block of Garden Way, after a large tree fell on the house. After Edward Cramer left to run errands, the suit says Yeamans “reentered the property and took photographs of the flowering hibiscus plants in the Cramers' back yard.”
Yeamans then sent the photos of what he thought were marijuana plants to the Freeport police, who forwarded them to the Buffalo Township police, the lawsuit states.
When police arrived at the home on Oct. 7, the lawsuit states, they roughly handcuffed Audrey Cramer and led her outside in her underwear and bare feet. When her husband arrived 30 minutes after police, he had guns pointed at him and both were cuffed and held in the back of a hot police car for 4½ hours, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit claims Audrey Cramer explained to police that the plants were hibiscus, but was told by police that her husband had lied to her about raising hibiscus and was actually raising marijuana. Buffalo police officers then ransacked the house looking for marijuana, causing various damage to the home's interior and causing emotional stress to the Cramers, the lawsuit says.
The township denies officers ever treated the Cramers in a forceful manner, and denies that either were arrested, although they were held in custody and handcuffed. It also denies that the Cramers were held in the back of a hot police car for several hours, saying that they were detained for under an hour in the vehicle and later allowed back inside the home while police conducted the search. The township also claims that no damage to the house was done by the officers.
The lawsuit also alleges two of the officers claimed at the scene to be experts in marijuana identification, but the township's response denies “that Sgt. Hess ever proclaimed himself to be a marijuana expert.”
The police eventually figured out the plants at the home were not marijuana and released the Cramers.
In addition, the suit claims the Cramers received notification later in October from Nationwide Insurance saying that marijuana was found on the property, “and if they failed to remove the nonexistent marijuana plants, Nationwide would cancel their insurance policy.”
The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages.
