February
2011
Cool Represents Deputy
Sheriff in Successful Appeal of Suspension
In February 2011, Aiken Schenk
attorney James Cool represented a
northern Arizona deputy sheriff in her due process appeal from a 30-hour
suspension. The suspension was discipline for "damaging county property due to
negligence." The County alleged that our client negligently backed her work
vehicle into her personal vehicle, causing approximately $2,000 in damage.
In
Arizona, law enforcement officers have a constitutionally protected right to
their continued employment and may be terminated or seriously disciplined only
for just cause.
In a hearing before the county
Appeals Board, Cool successfully challenged the negligence allegation, citing
numerous inaccuracies in the reports that provided the basis for the
disciplinary action. He also argued that Arizona law does not presume negligence
simply because an accident occurred, and he presented evidence that the deputy
client had done everything she was trained to do and had acted as a reasonably
careful person would under the same circumstances.
Finding no evidence of negligence,
the Appeals Board reversed the suspension, cleared the deputy's record and
restored her lost wages. The
County's appeal in Superior Court was dismissed on procedural grounds.
The reversal of the deputy's suspension marked the
first successful challenge of that type before the Appeals Board in the County's
history.
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