Judge Rules Former Medical Examiner Can Sue to Get Job Back

An Oklahoma County judge says Oklahoma's former chief medical examiner can pursue a lawsuit he filed to get his job back.

Wednesday, April 7th 2010, 7:11 pm

By: News 9


Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY -- An Oklahoma County judge ruled Wednesday that Oklahoma's former chief medical examiner can pursue a lawsuit to get his job back.

District Judge Patricia Parrish denied a motion to dismiss Dr. Collie Trant's lawsuit and ordered members of the board that fired him as well as top administrators of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to provide Trant's attorney with sworn testimony before the end of April.

"I'm going to get to the bottom of the reason they fired him," Trant's attorney, Scott Adams of Oklahoma City, said following a brief hearing that Trant did not attend. Trant alleges in the lawsuit he was dismissed in retaliation for trying to report wrongdoing.

Charlie Price, spokesman for the attorney general's office, which is defending the Board of Medicolegal Investigations in the lawsuit, said attorneys are considering an appeal of Parrish's decision.

Price said the attorney general's office also may seek a stay in the case to prevent Adams from questioning medical examiner's officials under oath.

The board fired Trant on Feb. 5 following a closed-door meeting that Trant alleges had effectively prohibited him from participating.

Trant sued the board Feb. 16 and asked Parrish to reinstate him. Trant said he has not been told why he was fired.

Parrish denied the state's motions to dismiss the case and prevent Trant from taking sworn testimony from board members and agency administrators.

Parrish ordered members of the board as well as Tom Jordan, the agency's chief administrative officer, and public information officer Cherokee Ballard to provide sworn testimony by April 30. She also ordered the sealing of the depositions from public view.

Ballard said following the ruling that board members are reluctant to disclose what was discussed in the private executive session that led to Trant's firing. Discussion of personnel matters involving agency employees are supposed to be confidential, she said.

"An executive session is designed for their discussions that they think need to be private," Ballard said. "They feel like they had gone into executive session legally."

Adams called the state's motions "a delay tactic" and accused agency officials of trying to defame Trant with false accusations.

"It won't stick because there's no facts to back it up," Adams said.

Trant's dismissal is the latest in a series of problems at the agency that investigates the cause of unexplained deaths and homicides.

A multi-county grand jury indicted Kevin Rowland, the medical examiner's former chief investigator, in July on sexual battery charges that accuse him of improperly touching employees. Rowland, who left the agency in February 2009, has pleaded not guilty.

In addition, the agency lost its accreditation from the National Association of Medical Examiners in July due to inadequate staffing levels and outdated facilities and equipment. The agency had been accredited for 18 consecutive years.

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